Luke 5

5 ¹Once, as the crowd pressed around him to hear our Father's word, Jesus stood by Lake Gennesaret. ^a a v1 The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. ²He saw two boats standing by the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. ³Getting into one of the boats, Simon's, he asked him to move out a little from shore, then sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

⁴When he stopped speaking, he told Simon, "Push out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

⁵Simon answered, "Master, we worked all night and caught nothing. But at your word, I'll let down the nets." ⁶Doing this, they caught so many fish their nets began tearing. ⁷They signaled to partners in the other boat to come help; they came and filled both boats so that they began to sink. ⁸Seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Leave me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man!" ⁹For amazement gripped him and all with him at the catch of fish they had caught,

¹⁰and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons and Simon's partners. Jesus told Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you'll catch people."

¹¹So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him.

A Man Made Clean

¹²While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man covered with a serious skin disease appeared. Seeing Jesus, he fell facedown and begged, "Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean."

¹³Jesus reached out his hand, touched him: "I am willing. Be clean." At once the skin disease left him.

¹⁴Jesus ordered him to tell no one, "but go, show yourself to the priest and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing, as proof to the people."

¹⁵But word about him spread even more; large crowds gathered to hear him and be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶But Jesus often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.

The Father's Power to Forgive

¹⁷One day as he taught, Pharisees and teachers of the law sat, having come from every village of Galilee, and from Judea and Jerusalem. And our Father's power was there for him to heal the sick. ¹⁸Just then, men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat, trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹Finding no way through the crowd to bring him in, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles, into the middle, right before Jesus.

²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you."

²¹The scribes and Pharisees began debating, "Who is this man insulting God? Who but God alone can forgive sins?"

²²Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus answered them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? ²⁴But so you'll know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he told the paralyzed man—"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home."

²⁵At once he stood before them, picked up his mat, went home glorifying our Father. ²⁶Amazement seized them all; they glorified our Father, filled with awe, saying, "We saw remarkable things today."

Jesus Calls Levi

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. "Follow me," he said.

²⁸So Levi got up, left everything behind, and followed him. ²⁹Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclined with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

³¹Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

A Question About Fasting

³³They said to him, "John's disciples fast often and pray, likewise the Pharisees' disciples, but yours eat and drink."

³⁴Jesus said, "Can you make the bridegroom's friends fast while he is with them? ³⁵But days will come when the bridegroom is taken from them, and then, in those days, they will fast."

³⁶He told them a parable too: "No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. Otherwise, he tears the new, and the new patch won't match the old. ³⁷No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, spill out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is good.'"