Mark 2:14–22

¹⁴As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.^*

¹⁵And as he sat at dinner^u in Levi’s^v house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting^w with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶When the scribes of^x the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat^y with tax collectors and sinners?”^{* 17}When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”^*

The Question about Fasting

¹⁸Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people^z came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.^*

²¹“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”^a