12 And it came about, while he was in one of the shtetlach, hinei, there was an ish metzorah full of leprosy. And having seen Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, and having fallen on his face, he begged him saying, Adoni, if you are willing, you are able to make me tahor (clean). 13 And having stretched out his hand, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach touched him, saying, I am willing. Be made tahor. And, ofen ort (immediately), the leprosy departed from him. 14 And Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach gave orders to him to tell no one, but go and show yourself to the kohen and make a korban for your tohorah (purification) as Moshe Rabbeinu gave mitzvah; do this for an edut (solemn testimony) to them. [VAYIKRA 14:2-32] 15 But the man was spreading even more the dvar about Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, and many multitudes were assembling to listen and to receive refuah (healing) from their machlot (illnesses). 16 But Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was withdrawing in hitbodedut (seclusion, aloneness with G-d) into the wilderness places and was davening.

17 And it came about, on one of the yamim when he was teaching Torah, that the Perushim and Sofrim had come from every shtetl of the Galil and Yehudah and Yerushalayim and were sitting by. And the power of Hashem was with Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach to bring refuah (healing). 18 And hinei, anashim were carrying on a mat a man who had been paralyzed, and they were seeking to carry in the paralytic and to place him before Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. 19 And not having found by what way they might carry him, because of the multitude, and having gone up onto the roof, they let the man down with the mat through the tiles so that he was right in the center in front of Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach. 20 And having seen their emunah, Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said, Ben Adam, your chatta'im (sins) have received selicha (forgiveness). 21 And the Sofrim began to raise kashes (questions), and also the Perushim, saying, Who is this who is speaking Chillul Hashem gidduf? Who is able to grant selicha to chatta'im but Hashem alone? 22 But he having had daas of their machshavot (thoughts), said to them in reply, Why are you reasoning in your levavot? 23 Which is easier: to say, Your chatta'im have been granted selicha, or to say, Get up and walk? 24 But in order that you may have da'as that the Ben HaAdam [Moshiach, DANIEL 7:13] has samchut on HaAretz to grant selicha to chatta'im, Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said to the one having been paralyzed, To you I say, Get up, pick up your mat, and go to your bais (house, home). 25 And at once the man arose in front of them, picked up the mat upon which he was lying, and departed to his bais, shouting, Baruch Hashem! 26 And astonishment seized everyone, and they were shouting, Baruch Hashem! And they were filled with yirat Shomayim, saying, Hayom (today) our eyes have beheld niflaot (wonders)!

27 And after these things Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach went out and saw a moches (tax collector) named Levi [Mattityahu] sitting in the tax office, and he said to him, Follow me. 28 And having forsaken all and having got up, Levi was following Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach.

29 And Levi arranged a large seudah in his bais for Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach, and there was a great number of mochesim and others who were with them, reclining at tish. 30 And the Perushim and their Sofrim were murmuring against Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach's talmidim, saying, Why with the mochesim and choteim are you eating and drinking? 31 And in reply, Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said to them, It is not the bariim who have need of a rofeh, but the cholim (sick persons); 32 I have not come to call the tzaddikim but choteim (sinners) to teshuva (repentance).

33 But they said to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, Yochanan's talmidim undergo tzomot (fasts) often and offer tefillos; likewise also the ones of the Perushim; but your talmidim eat and drink. 34 But Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach said to them, You are not able to make the Bnei haChuppah undergo tzomot while the Choson is with them, are you? 35 But yamim will come when the Choson is taken away from them; then, in those yamim, they will undergo tzomot. 36 Now Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was telling also a mashal to them: No one tears a piece from a new garment, and sews it as a patch on an old garment. Otherwise, both the new will be torn, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts yayin chadash (new wine) into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the wineskins, it will be spilled, and the wineskins will be destroyed. 38 Rather, yayin chadash must be put into new wineskins. 39 And no one having drunk the old desires the chadash (new), for he says, The alter (old) is besere (better). [T.N. LUKAS WROTE THIS BOOK SOMETIME AROUND 63 B.C.E.]