Matthew Called

⁹ As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew (Levi) sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” And Matthew got up and followed Him.^(A)

¹⁰ Then as Jesus was reclining at the table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and ^[a]sinners [including non-observant Jews] came and ate with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹² But when Jesus heard this, He said, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but [only] those who are sick. ¹³ Go and learn what this [Scripture] means: ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], and not [animal] sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call [to repentance] the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to change], but sinners [those who recognize their sin and actively seek forgiveness].”^(B)

The Question about Fasting

¹⁴ Then the disciples of John [the Baptist] came to Jesus, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees often fast [as a religious exercise], but Your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵ And Jesus replied to them, “Can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶ But no one puts a piece of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor is new wine put into old ^[b]wineskins [that have lost their elasticity]; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the [fermenting] wine spills and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, so both are preserved.”

Levi (Matthew) Called

¹⁴ As He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) the son of Alphaeus sitting in the ^[a]tax collector’s booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” And he got up and followed Him [becoming His disciple, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].^(A)

¹⁵ And it happened that Jesus was ^[b]reclining at the table in Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were eating with Him and His disciples; for there were many of them and they were ^[c]following Him. ¹⁶ When the scribes [belonging to the sect] of the ^[d]Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with the sinners [including non-observant Jews] and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat and drink with ^[e]tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ When Jesus heard this, He said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need of a physician, but [only] those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners [who recognize their sin and humbly seek forgiveness].”

¹⁸ Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting [as a ritual]; and they came and asked Jesus, “Why are John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fasting, but Your disciples are not doing so?” ¹⁹ Jesus answered, “The attendants of the bridegroom ^[f]cannot fast while the bridegroom is [still] with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the days will come when the bridegroom is [forcefully] ^[g]taken away from them, and they will fast at that time.

²¹ “No one sews a patch of unshrunk (new) cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and the tear becomes worse. ²² No one puts new wine into old ^[h]wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”