Jesus Forgives Sins
17On one of the days while Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18Just then, men who were carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher tried to bring him in and lay him in front of Jesus. 19Since they did not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him down through the tiles on his stretcher into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 20When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins have been forgiven.”
21The experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
22But Jesus knew their thoughts and answered them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
25Immediately, he stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26They were all astonished and glorified God. They were also filled with reverence and said, “We have seen wonderful things today.”
The Calling of Levi (Matthew)
27After these things, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at the tax collector's booth. He said to him, “Follow me.”
28Levi left everything, got up, and followed Jesus. 29Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house. There was a large crowd of tax collectors and others dining with them. 30The Pharisees and experts in the law grumbled against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31Jesus answered them, “The healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
A Question About Fasting
33They said to him, “Why do John's disciples fast and pray often, and so do the Pharisees' disciples, but yours go on eating and drinking?”
34Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then, in those days, they will fast.”
36He told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new garment, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old one. 37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. 38Instead, new wine must be put into fresh wineskins so both are preserved. 39And no one wants new wine while drinking old wine, because he says, ‘The old is fine.’”
