Luke 5:10-28

¹⁰James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners, felt the same way. “Don't be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you'll be fishing for people!”

¹¹So they dragged the boats onto the shore, left everything, and followed Jesus.

¹²Once when Jesus was visiting one of the towns, he met a man there who had a very bad case of leprosy. The man fell with his face to the ground and begged Jesus, “Please Lord, if you're willing, you can make me clean.”

¹³Jesus reached out and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy disappeared.

¹⁴“Say nothing to anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “Go and show yourself to the priest and make the ceremonial offerings as required by the law of Moses as proof that you've been healed.”

¹⁵Yet the news about Jesus spread more and more. Large crowds came to hear Jesus and to be healed from their diseases.

¹⁶But Jesus often used to retreat to quiet places and pray.

¹⁷One day when Jesus was teaching, the Pharisees and religious teachers who had come from all over Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem were sitting there. The power of the Lord to heal was with him so he could heal.

¹⁸Some men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to take him in and lay him in front of Jesus.

¹⁹But they couldn't find any way through the crowd, so they went up on the roof and made a hole in the roof tiles. Then they lowered the man down on the mat, right into the crowd in front of Jesus.

²⁰When Jesus saw the trust they had in him, he said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”

²¹The religious teachers and the Pharisees began to argue with that. “Who is this who's speaking blasphemies?” they asked. “Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that!”

²²Jesus knew what they were arguing about, so he asked them, “Why are you thinking to question this?

²³What is easier? To say your sins are forgiven, or to say get up and walk?

²⁴However, I will prove to you that the Son of man has the authority here on earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”

²⁵Immediately the man stood up in front of them. He picked up the mat he'd been lying on, and went home, praising God as he went.

²⁶Everyone was completely astonished at what had happened, and in great awe they praised God, saying, “What we saw today was amazing!”

²⁷Later, as Jesus was leaving the town, he saw a tax collector called Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him.

²⁸Levi stood up, left everything, and followed Jesus.