Luke 5 (NMV)
1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear the word of God, He was standing by Lake Gennesaret,
2 and He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the land. Then He sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch."
5 "Master," Simon replied, "we've worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if You say so, I'll let down the nets."
6 When they did this, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear.
7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man!"
9 For he and all those with him were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
10 and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners. "Don't be afraid," Jesus told Simon. "From now on you will be catching people."
11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Him.
12 While He was in one of the towns, a man was there who was completely covered with a skin disease. When he saw Jesus, he fell facedown and begged Him: "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."
13 Reaching out His hand, Jesus touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean." Immediately the disease left him.
14 Then He instructed him to tell no one: "But go and show yourself to the priest, and offer what Moses commanded for your cleansing as a testimony to them."
15 But the news about Him spread even more, and large crowds would gather to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
16 Yet He often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
17 One day while He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and also from Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the Lord's power was with Him to heal.
18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed mat. They tried to bring him in and set him down before Jesus.
19 Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the bed mat through the roof tiles, right into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus.
20 Seeing their faith, He said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."
21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, "Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
22 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, replied to them, "Why are you thinking this in your hearts?
23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' 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 told the paralyzed man, "I tell you: get up, take your mat, and go home."
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.
26 Then everyone was astounded, and they gave glory to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen incredible things today."
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me."
28 So, leaving everything behind, Levi got up and began to follow Him.
29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Him at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors and others were reclining at the table with them.
30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples: "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
31 Jesus replied to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a doctor, but those who are sick.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to change the way they live."
33 Then they said to Him, "John's disciples fast often and say prayers, and those of the Pharisees do the same, but Yours eat and drink."
34 Jesus said to them, "You can't make the groom's attendants fast while the groom is with them, can you?
35 But the days will come when the groom will be taken away from them, then they will fast in those days."
36 He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, the new garment will be ruined, and the patch from the new won't match the old.
37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill out and the skins will be ruined.
38 No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.
39 And no one after drinking old wine wants new, because he says, 'The old is better.'"