Mark 2:16

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

Mark 2:16 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 2:16

And when the Scribes and Pharisees saw him eat
They were offended at his eating and drinking, though it was in moderation; because he did not fast as they, and their disciples did; and especially, that he eat

with publicans and sinners;
men of very infamous characters, and bad lives, with whom the Pharisees disdained to keep company:

they said unto his disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh
with publicans and sinners?
The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions read, "your master", (See Gill on Matthew 9:11); so some Greek copies here.

Mark 2:16 In-Context

14 As 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.

15 While 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.

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

17 On 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.”

18 Now 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?”

Footnotes

• [a]. BYZ and TR include and drink; see Luke 5:30.