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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_2:15-17
15And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" 17And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Mar_2:15 "He was reclining at the table in his house" This was Levi's home (cf. Luk_5:29). Jesus ate with the socially and religiously outcast as a way to initiate a religious dialog with them. They flocked to Him because He acted so different from the self-righteous Jewish leaders. Eating was a special event in the Ancient Near East which expressed friendship and acceptance. They would have reclined on their left elbow around a low horseshoe-shaped table with their feet behind them (this has been challenged by J. Jeremias in his book The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, pp. 20-21. He asserts that Jews did not regularly follow the Mediterranean custom of reclining, except during feast days). In the Near East others who were not invited to the meal could come into the dining area and stand around the walls or at the door or windows and listen to the conversation.
One wonders how much eschatological symbolism should be read into this context. Is this feast a foreshadowing of the Messianic banquet which will include outcasts (cf. Mat_8:11; Luk_13:29 possibly reflecting Isa_59:15-21)? If so, then there is the theological insight that temporal fellowship with Jesus mirrors eschatological kingdom fellowship. Sinners are reconciled now and in eternity! All sinners are welcome (and all are sinners, even the OT covenant people, cf. Rom_3:9-18).
▣ "sinners" This refers to those people who did not keep all the details of the Oral Traditions (i.e., the Talmud). They were often referred to in a derogatory sense as the "people of the land." They were not fully welcome at the synagogue.
▣ "and His disciples" These select men were privy to all of Jesus' words and deeds. In truth they were primarily meant for them. They would record and explain Jesus to the world.
▣ "for there were many of them, and they were following Him" The grammar is ambiguous, but seems to refer to "sinners" and not to His disciples.
Mar_2:16 "the scribes of the Pharisees" Scribes were not exclusively of one religious/political party, though most of them in Jesus' day were Pharisees. The Pharisees were a particular theological sect of Judaism which developed during the Maccabean period. They were very committed and sincere religionists who strictly followed the Oral Traditions (i.e., the Talmud).
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Mar_2:16 "He was eating with sinners" This must have been a regular event, not an exception (cf. Luk_5:29; Luk_7:34; Luk_15:1-2). It was so shocking to the self-righteous, religious elite!
Mar_2:17 "'those who are sick'" They had a sense of need that was essential for faith (cf. Mat_5:3-4) and Jesus was their healer and friend (cf. Luk_7:34; Luk_19:10).
▣ "'I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners'" This is an ironic, possibly sarcastic statement like Mar_7:19. This statement was not meant to imply that the religious leaders were righteous (cf. Mat_5:20) and therefore did not need to repent, but that Jesus' message (cf. Mar_1:14-15) was more appealing to those who sensed their own spiritual need. Jesus uses proverbial statements often in His teaching (cf. Mar_2:17; Mar_2:21-22; Mar_2:27; Mar_3:27; Mar_4:21-22; Mar_4:25; Mar_7:15; Mar_8:35-37; Mar_9:40; Mar_9:50; Mar_10:25; Mar_10:27; Mar_10:31; Mar_10:43-44). No one is more blind than those who think they see!
The Textus Receptus adds "to repentance" at the end of this verse following the Lukan parallel (cf. Mar_5:32) and Byzantine texts, but this variant is not even included in the UBS4 critical apparatus as a possibility.