Matthew 9:9–17

The Calling of Matthew

9:9–13pp—Mk 2:14–17; Lk 5:27–32

⁹As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,”^t he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

¹⁰While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”^u

¹²On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ¹³But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’^av For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”^w

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

9:14–17pp—Mk 2:18–22; Lk 5:33–39

¹⁴Then John’s^x disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,^y but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁵Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?^z The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.^a

¹⁶“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. ¹⁷Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”