Matthew 9:9-17
Read Matthew 9 in full →Matthew and Sinners Called
9aAnd as Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called bMatthew, sitting in the tax office; and He *said to him, “cFollow Me!” And he stood up and followed Him.
101Then it happened that as 2Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and 3sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “aWhy is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not athose who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13“But go and learn 1,awhat this means: ‘bI desire 2compassion, 3and not sacrifice,’ for cI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
A Question About Fasting
14Then the disciples of John *came to Him, 1asking, “Why do we and athe Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Can the 1attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16“But no one puts 1a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for 2the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. 17“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”