Call of Levi (Matthew)

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

²⁹ And ^(D)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(E)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (F)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[b]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(G)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, “^(H)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[c]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[d]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (I)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.