As I write this, Britain is in turmoil over Brexit. Some people want Britain to be free from the European Union, whom they see as imposing power from outside. Imagine what it must have felt like in Judea in Jesus’ day; the occupying Roman Empire made all the rules, delegating only limited power to local authorities. Some people cooperated with the Romans, such as those who collected taxes for them (whilst keeping plenty for themselves) (v 14). 

Tax collectors and ‘sinners’ (ie anyone who did not scrupulously observe all the rituals of religion) were considered beyond-the-pale by the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees (vs 15,16). Why would Jesus call one of them to follow him and, even, enjoy their company?! A similar criticism prompts the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son (see Luke 15). 

Jesus’ preaching and teaching go beyond words. Sharing a meal with someone is a powerful demonstration that you accept them. There was something about Jesus which attracted those whom the religious establishment rejected (vs 14,15). How welcoming is your church to the outsider? Do we offer Jesus’ welcome to the ‘spiritually sick’ (v 17)?

‘Rejoice, the Lord is king! / Your Lord and king adore.¹ 

From here to 3:6 there is growing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. On the surface, it is conflict over the observance of ritual practices: eating kosher, fasting, Sabbath-keeping. Underneath are the real questions: ‘Who is this Jesus?’, ‘Why has he come?’ and ‘What authority does he have to act and speak as he does?’ – an issue that started in 1:22. Jesus came with new teaching, a threat to those who had a vested interest in the way things were. The poor had nothing to lose. The pious Jews had everything. In their defence, we might note that they had been brought up that way.

Levi was probably a customs officer, charging tariffs on goods in transit. The taxes would have been paid to Herod Antipas, since Galilee was not yet under direct Roman rule. The tax collector determined his own markup. He could frisk people and search their property. It’s not hard to see why they were so hated. Levi is almost certainly the Gospel-writer Matthew, working, directly or indirectly, for Herod. He is not mentioned by name in the Gospel story after this.

The scrupulous Pharisees were scandalised at the company Jesus kept. Did they misunderstand why he spent time with the tax collectors and sinners? The food he was eating wouldn’t be kosher, would it? ‘Why does he eat with such scum?’ (v 16, NLT). ‘A man is known by the company he keeps’.² Jesus replies with a proverb common in the ancient Mediterranean: ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor’ (v 17). My mother used to say, ‘There’s no helping those that think they don’t need help’. Notice the same thing happening here as we saw in the healing of the leprosy sufferer. Jesus, far from fearing contamination from the sick, reaches out and touches them. The ‘infection’ is the other way round.

How do you reconcile this passage with Paul’s command to be separate?³

¹ Charles Wesley, 1707–88  ² Aesop, 6th century bc  ³ 2 Cor 6:14–17