Luke 5:27–38

Jesus Calls Levi

^27bAfter this he went out and saw ^ca tax collector named ^dLevi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸And ^eleaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company ^fof tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰And the Pharisees and ^gtheir scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ^h“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³²ⁱI have not come to call the righteous ^jbut sinners ^kto repentance.”

A Question About Fasting

³³And they said to him, ^l“The disciples of John ^mfast often and ^moffer prayers, ⁿand so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴And Jesus said to them, ^o“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ^35pThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^qthen they will fast in those days.” ³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one puts new wine into old ^rwineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.