Luke 5:27–38

The Call of Matthew

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, ^rand He said to him, “Follow Me!” ²⁸So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him.

Dining with Sinners

²⁹Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests ^swith them. ^t30But the Pharisees and their scribes ^uwere complaining to His disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹Jesus replied to them, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

A Question about Fasting

³³Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ^v

³⁴Jesus said to them, “You can’t make the wedding guests ^wfast while the groom is with them, can you? ³⁵But the time ^xwill come ^ywhen the groom will be taken away from them—then they will fast in those days.”

³⁶He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins. ^z