A Man Lowered Through a Roof

^17 [a]One day He was teaching, and ^(A)there were some Pharisees and ^(B)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(C)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(D)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (E)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(F)the roof and let him down ^(G)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[b]Friend, ^(H)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(I)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(J)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(K)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[c]aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the ^(L)man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(M)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[d]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(N)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(O)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (P)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^[e](Q)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(R)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(S)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(T)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (U)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[f]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(V)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(W)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[g]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[h]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (X)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”