When Jesus saw the faith of the four men, he turned to the man on the cot, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

The religious rulers were shocked when they heard this. They thought, “How dare he say that! This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins.”

Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said, “Why are you so troubled? It would’ve been easy for me to say, ‘Get up and walk.’ But you needed to know that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins.”

He then said to the man, “Get up! Pick up your cot, and go home.”

Immediately the man got up, picked up his cot, and walked out in front of everyone. People were amazed and glorified God. They said, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

After that, Jesus left the house and walked toward the seashore. Along the way, he saw a tax collector named Matthew sitting at a tax booth. The Jewish people hated tax collectors and said they were traitors to Israel.

Jesus stopped and said to him, “Matthew, follow me.” Immediately, the man left everything and followed Jesus.

Soon afterwards, he hosted a reception for Jesus in his house. He invited many other tax collectors. They came as well as other people of low reputation.

The religious leaders were appalled! They said to his disciples, “Why is your Master eating with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard this, so he answered them. “Doctors are for sick people, not for those who are well. I haven’t come to work with people who think they are righteousness. I’ve come to bring repentance to sinners.”