Mark 2:16

Mark 2:16, in plain English

When the Pharisee teachers saw Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, they asked His disciples, 'Why does He eat with those people?'

Why it's here

The religious leaders couldn't understand it. In their world, holiness meant staying away from sinful people. In Jesus' world, holiness meant going to them.

Who's speaking

The Pharisaic scribes question the disciples about Jesus' controversial dining companions.

Where it sits in the story

Their question reveals their whole worldview: good people don't associate with bad people. But Jesus was about to flip that understanding on its head.

The scholarly reading

The scribes of the Pharisees (hoi grammateis tōn Pharisaiōn), observing Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, questioned His disciples about this breach of purity protocols.

Language and setting

Pharisaic purity laws governed table fellowship strictly. Eating with 'sinners' risked contracting ritual impurity. The Pharisees addressed the disciples rather than Jesus directly, which may indicate a desire to undermine His authority among His followers.

Voice

The Pharisaic scribes pose their challenge to Jesus' disciples, questioning Jesus' association with sinners.

Significance

The Pharisees' concern was rooted in genuine theological conviction about holiness through separation. They could not comprehend a holiness that worked through contact rather than avoidance.

14As He was walking along, He saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.

15While Jesus was dining at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples—for there were many who followed Him.

16When the scribes who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with these people, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

18Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were often fasting. So people came to Jesus and asked, “Why don’t Your disciples fast like John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees?”

Read all of Mark 2 — Jesus forgives sins, eats with outcasts, and lets his disciples skip fasting. The religious leaders can barely keep up with the offenses.