Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him
to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began
to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with
them." Tax-gatherers were mainly Jewish men who purchased from
the Roman officials the right to collect various taxes and
customs and tolls. The system abounded with abuses. The tax
gatherers were "cordially hated and despised by their fellow
countrymen" (I.H. Marshall, Luke, p. 143)—not only because they
were looked on as unpatriotic, and dishonest, and greedy, but
also because their job made them ritually unclean. So pious Jews
saw them as being alienated from God. These tax-gatherers were
coming near to Jesus to listen to him. The other group coming
near to him are called, "sinners." Verse 1: Tax-gatherers and
sinners were coming near to him to listen to him. This sounds
strange to us, because we know that all people are sinners in
one sense; and because tax-gatherers certainly were. But it
didn't sound strange in Jesus' s