Matthew, who is also called Levi, was the last of the 12 disciples Jesus had called while he was collecting taxes near the Sea of Galilee. Matthew made a great feast for Jesus at his house.
The other disciples joined Jesus, along with Matthew’s old friends and acquaintances, which included tax collectors and other people of low reputation.
When the religious leaders (Pharisees and teachers) saw Jesus eating and drinking with tax collectors and other outcasts of society, they began to criticize Jesus and his disciples by asking:
Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
When Jesus heard what they were saying, he replied:
It isn’t people who are well that need a doctor, but those that are sick. I haven’t come to call the righteous; I have come to call sinners to repentance. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.
John’s disciples and some of the Pharisees were fasting. Some of John’s disciples came to Jesus to ask him why his disciples did not fast.
Jesus replied:
Do the friends of the bridegroom mourn (fast) as long as the bridegroom is with them? No. As long as the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast.
But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
He told this same story to the disciples of John. Jesus said:
No one takes a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old garment.
No man puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine would burst the skins and the wine would be spilled and lost. But they put new wine into new wine skins.
