Mark 2:16-18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 [a]Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 Jesus heard this and said to them [that], “Those who are well do not need a physician,[b] but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
The Question About Fasting.[c] 18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.(A) People came to him and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
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- 2:16–17 This and the following conflict stories reflect a similar pattern: a statement of fact, a question of protest, and a reply by Jesus.
- 2:17 Do not need a physician: this maxim of Jesus with its implied irony was uttered to silence his adversaries who objected that he ate with tax collectors and sinners (Mk 2:16). Because the scribes and Pharisees were self-righteous, they were not capable of responding to Jesus’ call to repentance and faith in the gospel.
- 2:18–22 This conflict over the question of fasting has the same pattern as Mk 2:16–17; see notes on Mt 9:15; 9:16–17.
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