Luke 15:1–2 1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”
The call of Levi (Matthew means “the gift of God”) shocked the official religious leaders, for what rabbi would want a tax collector as a disciple? Jews who worked for Rome were looked upon as traitors both to God and to Israel, yet Jesus welcomed them and gave them new life . But Jesus went even further and fellowshipped with Matthew and his “sinner” friends! (“Sinners” in v. 15 refers to Jews who did not keep the Law but lived like Gentiles. To the religious Jews, they were outcasts.)
Jesus sees sinners as sick people who need a physician, and He is that physician.
Psalm 107:20 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.