43. The Calling of Levi-Matthew and a Meal at His House. Mt. 9:9–17; Mk. 2:13–22; Lk. 5:27–39

After this the Lord went out again and walked by the sea; and all the crowd came to Him, and He taught them. Passing by, He saw a man sitting at the tax office, a tax collector, named Levi son of Alpheus, or Matthew, and He said to him: Follow Me; and he rose, left everything, and followed Him.

And Levi-Matthew made a great feast for Him in his house. And when Jesus reclined at table in his house, His disciples also reclined with Him; and many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined with Him and with His disciples; for there were many of them, and they followed Him; and there were many others who reclined with Him.

And some of the scribes and Pharisees, seeing that He was eating with tax collectors and sinners, said to His disciples: How is it that your Teacher eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? When Jesus heard this, He said to them in reply: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Hos 6:6).

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples were accustomed to fasting. And the scribes and Pharisees come to Him and say: Why do John’s disciples fast often and offer prayers, and likewise the Pharisees’ disciples, but Your disciples eat and drink? Then John’s disciples also come to Him and say: Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast? Jesus said to them: Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? And can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? For all the time the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast. But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.

And He spoke to them a parable: No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch tears away from the old, and a worse tear is made. (In Saint Luke’s account this parable is told thus: No one tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment; but if one does, one will tear the new, and the patch from the new will not match the old. – In this form it may have been presented by the Lord at some other time repetitively.)

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins; then both are preserved.

And no one after drinking old wine wishes at once for new; for one says, The old is better.