And now, here he is eating with sinners and tax collectors. It makes no sense at all. All of this the Pharisee thinks to himself as he takes in all that’s happening right before him.

He is sitting and eating with tax collectors. For a moment, you wonder why Jesus makes time for sinners and none for you, someone who has sought to follow God’s dictates all of your life.

“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9).

Sometimes Jesus is eating with them, but other times he is critical of them (e.g. "let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector" in Matt. 18:17). John doesn't really mention them at all.

John, we have seen, attacks sinners who come to him with fiery words" while Jesus speaks and eats "with tax collectors and sinners." ...

Jesus. I know, he loves everybody, but there is something special about his affection for tax collectors, one of whom he goes out of his way to collect himself.

Vatican City, Jul 8, 2017 / 03:00 am On Friday Pope Francis said that just like the biblical tax collectors, despite our sinfulness, Jesus seeks us out to be near us and to heal us, as long as we ...