So the Pharisees and scribes began to grumble: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Here is, I. The diligent attendance of the publicans and sinners upon Christ's ministry. Great multitudes of Jews went with him (Luk 14:25), with such an assurance of admission into the kingdom of God that he found it requisite to say that to them which would shake their vain hopes.
Commenting on Luke 15:1-10
And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured,.... When they saw the easy access these wicked men had to Christ; and that he stopped and stayed with them, and very freely imparted instructions to them: saying, this man receiveth sinners. The Persic version reads, "publicans and sinners", as in the preceding verse: the word "man" is not in the original text, it is only "this"; which is...
Verse 2. Murmured. They affected to suppose that if Jesus treated sinners kindly he must be fond of their society, and be a man of similar character. They considered it disgraceful to be with them or to eat with them, and they therefore brought a charge against him for it.