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Luke 5:27-38
After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him,“ Follow Me!”So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow Him.Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them.But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples,“ Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”Jesus replied to them,“ The healthy don’t need a doctor, but the sick do.I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”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.”Jesus said to them,“ You can’t make the wedding guests fast while the groom is with them, can you?But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them— then they will fast in those days.”He also told them a parable:“ No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old.And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined.But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins.
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Mark 2:14-22
Then, moving on, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and He said to him,“ Follow Me!” So he got up and followed Him.While He was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also guests with Jesus and His disciples, because there were many who were following Him.When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples,“ Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”When Jesus heard this, He told them,“ Those who are well don’t need a doctor, but the sick do need one. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and asked Him,“ Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”Jesus said to them,“ The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.But the time will come when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth, and a worse tear is made.And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”
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Luke 19:2-10
There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man.So running ahead, he climbed up a sycamore tree to see Jesus, since He was about to pass that way.When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him,“ Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today I must stay at your house.”So he quickly came down and welcomed Him joyfully.All who saw it began to complain,“ He’s gone to lodge with a sinful man!”But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,“ Look, I’ll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord! And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I’ll pay back four times as much!”“ Today salvation has come to this house,” Jesus told him,“ because he too is a son of Abraham.For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
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Luke 6:15
Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;
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Mark 3:18
Andrew; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot,
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Matthew 10:3
Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
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Matthew 4:18-22
As He was walking along the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen.“ Follow Me,” He told them,“ and I will make you fish for people!”Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them.Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
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Acts 1:13
When they arrived, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
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1 Kings 19 19-1 Kings 19 21
Elijah left there and found Elisha son of Shaphat as he was plowing. Twelve teams of oxen were in front of him, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah walked by him and threw his mantle over him.Elisha left the oxen, ran to follow Elijah, and said,“ Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.”“ Go on back,” he replied,“ for what have I done to you?”So he turned back from following him, took the team of oxen, and slaughtered them. With the oxen’s wooden yoke and plow, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he left, followed Elijah, and served him.
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Luke 15:1-2
All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to Him.And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining,“ This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”
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Galatians 1:16
to reveal His Son in me, so that I could preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.
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Matthew 21:31-32
“ Which of the two did his father’s will?”“ The first,” they said. Jesus said to them,“ I assure you: Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him, but you, when you saw it, didn’t even change your minds then and believe him.
