1One day the crowd was pressing around Jesus to hear the word of God. He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,
2and he saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Go out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch."
5Simon answered him, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the net."
6When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net began to tear.
7So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both boats so full that the boats began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
9For he was amazed, and so were all who were with him, at the catch of fish they had taken.
10So were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men."
11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
12While Jesus was in one of the towns, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
13Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean." At once the leprosy left him.
14Jesus ordered him to tell no one. "But go," he said, "and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a witness to them."
15But the news about him spread all the more. Great crowds came together to hear him and to be healed by him of their illnesses.
16But he would go away into the desert and pray.
17One day, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every town of Galilee and Judaea, and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
18Look, some men came carrying a man on a bed who was paralysed. They tried to find a way to bring him in and lay him in front of Jesus.
19They could find no way to bring him in because of the crowd, so they went up on the roof. They let him down on his mat through the tiles, into the middle of the room in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."
21The scribes and the Pharisees began to argue about this. They said, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22But Jesus knew what they were thinking. He answered them, "Why are you arguing in your hearts?"
23Which 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 power on earth to forgive sins" - he said to the paralysed man - "I say to you, get up, take up your mat, and go home."
25At once the man stood up in front of them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, giving glory to God.
26They were all amazed, and they gave glory to God. They were filled with fear and said, "We have seen strange things today."
27After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office. He said to him, "Follow me."
28And Levi left everything, got up, and followed him.
29Levi held a great feast for him in his own house. A large crowd of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them.
30But their scribes and Pharisees complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
31Jesus answered them, "Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do."
32"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repent."
33They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But yours eat and drink."
34He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?"
35"But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then, in those days, they will fast."
36He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new coat to patch an old one. If he does, he ruins the new one, and the piece from the new coat does not match the old."
37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins. The wine will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
38New wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are kept safe.
39"And no one who has drunk old wine wants new wine straight away, for he says, 'The old is better.'"