Matthew 9:9–17

Matthew and Sinners Called

^9aAnd as Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called ^bMatthew, sitting in the tax office; and He ^*said to him, “^cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.

¹⁰¹Then it happened that as ²Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and ³sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples.

¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “^aWhy is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not ^athose who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.

¹³“But go and learn ^1awhat this means: ‘^bI desire ²compassion, ³and not sacrifice,’ for ^cI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then the disciples of John ^*came to Him, ¹asking, “Why do we and ^athe Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to them, “Can the ¹attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶“But no one puts ¹a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for ²the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.

¹⁷“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”