As He was passing by, He saw Levi (Matthew) the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax collector’s booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” And he got up and followed Him [becoming His disciple, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].

And it happened that Jesus was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, and many tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were eating with Him and His disciples; for there were many of them and they were following Him.

He asked them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

and begged anxiously with Him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; [please] come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will be healed and live.”

Now the disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.

For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God].

For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?

For what will a man give in exchange for his soul and eternal life [in God’s kingdom]?

If your hand causes you to stumble and sin, cut it off [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]! It is better for you to enter life crippled, than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire,

[where their worm does not die, and the fire is not put out.]

where their worm [that feeds on the dead] does not die, and the fire is not put out.

As He was leaving on His journey, a man ran up and knelt before Him and asked Him, “Good Teacher [You who are essentially good and morally perfect], what shall I do to inherit eternal life [that is, eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom]?”

who will not receive a hundred times as much now in the present age—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms—along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’

This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

For they all contributed from their surplus, but she, from her poverty, put in all she had, all she had to live on.”

While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it [giving thanks and praise], and He broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take it. This is My body.”

But after I have been raised [from the dead], I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

and they began saluting and mocking Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!”

But Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His last [voluntarily, sovereignly dismissing and releasing His spirit from His body in submission to His Father’s plan].