1 Once, as the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret.
2 He saw two boats lying at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had stepped out of them and were rinsing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had stopped speaking, he said to Simon, "Head out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
5 Simon answered him, "Master, we worked hard the whole night and caught nothing; but on your word I will lower the net."
6 When they did this, they hauled in such a huge number of fish that their net was tearing.
7 They waved to their partners in the other boat to come and lend them a hand; they came and filled both boats until they were starting to sink.
8 Seeing this, Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
9 For amazement had gripped him and all who were with him at the haul of fish they had caught;
10 and the same was true of James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people alive."
11 They brought their boats to shore, left everything behind, and followed him.
12 While he was in one of the towns, there was a man covered with leprosy. On seeing Jesus he fell face down and pleaded with him, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."
13 Reaching out his hand, he touched him and said, "I want to; be made clean." At once the leprosy went away from him.
14 He ordered him to tell no one: "Instead, go, show yourself to the priest and offer what Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them."
15 Yet the word about him kept spreading even more, and large crowds kept coming together to hear him and to be cured of their sicknesses.
16 But he himself would slip away to deserted places and pray.
17 On one of those days, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were seated there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was there for him to heal them.
18 Some men came carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him inside and set him down in front of him.
19 When they could find no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they climbed onto the roof and lowered him with his little bed through the tiles into the middle, right in front of Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins have been forgiven you."
21 The scribes and the Pharisees started to argue, "Who is this man who is speaking blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?"
22 Jesus knew what they were reasoning and answered them, "What are you reasoning in your hearts?
23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins have been 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 paralyzed man—"I tell you, get up, pick up your little bed, and go home."
25 Immediately he stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went off to his home, glorifying God.
26 Astonishment took hold of all of them, and they glorified God; they were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."
27 After this he went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, "Follow me."
28 He left everything behind, got up, and followed him.
29 Levi held a great banquet for him at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others was reclining at the table with them.
30 Their scribes and the Pharisees complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32 I have not come to call righteous people but sinners to repentance."
33 They said to him, "Why do John's disciples fast frequently and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees too, while yours go on eating and drinking?"
34 He said to them, "Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them; then, in those days, they will fast."
36 He also gave them a parable: "No one sews a patch from a new garment onto an old one; if he does, he tears the new, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine bursts the skins and runs out, and the skins are lost.
38 No, new wine has to be poured into new skins, and both are kept safe.
39 And no one who has drunk old wine wants new right away; for he says, 'The old is better.'"