Mark 2:14–22

¹⁴Then, passing by, he saw Levi^bu the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office,^bv and he said to him, “Follow me,”^bw and he got up and followed^bx him.

¹⁵While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors^by and sinners^bz were eating^B with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. ¹⁶When the scribes^ca who were Pharisees^Ccb saw that he was eating^a with sinners^b and tax collectors,^c they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat^D with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need^d a doctor,^e but those who are sick.^f I didn’t come to call the righteous,^g but sinners.”^h

A QUESTION ABOUT FASTING

¹⁸Nowⁱ John’s^j disciples^k and the Pharisees^El were fasting.^m People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groomⁿ is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰But the time^C will come^o when the groom will be taken away from them,^p and then they will fast^q on that day. ²¹No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth,^r and a worse tear is made. ²²And no one puts new wine^s into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst^t the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”