Matthew 9:1-17

Jesus stepped into a boat. He went over to the other side of the lake and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a man who could not walk. He was lying on a mat. Jesus saw that they had faith. So he said to the man, “Don’t lose hope, son. Your sins are forgiven.” Then some teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is saying a very evil thing!” Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said, “Why do you have evil thoughts in your hearts? Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’? Or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he spoke to the man who could not walk. “Get up,” he said. “Take your mat and go home.” The man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with wonder. They praised God for giving that kind of authority to a human being. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew. He was sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him. Matthew got up and followed him. Later Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and sinners came. They ate with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this. So they asked the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this. So he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a doctor. Sick people do. Go and learn what this means, ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ I have not come to get those who think they are right with God to follow me. I have come to get sinners to follow me.” One day John’s disciples came. They said to Jesus, “We and the Pharisees often go without eating. Why don’t your disciples go without eating?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the groom be sad while he is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast. “People don’t sew a patch of new cloth on old clothes. The new piece will pull away from the old. That will make the tear worse. People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst. The wine will run out, and the wineskins will be destroyed. No, people pour new wine into new wineskins. Then both are saved.”