2. Jesus with tax collectors and “sinners” (2:13-17)

Wesleyan Christians might see here a specific illustration of Wesley’s insistence on the universality of God’s gift of grace. Jews and Gentiles alike scorned tax collectors as a group for their nosy and criminal behavior. For the Jew in particular, they were suspect for their collaboration with Rome in an oppressive system of taxation. Sinners were probably defined as people who had adopted publicly immoral lifestyles. By calling Levi to discipleship, then eating with people deemed socially and religiously unacceptable by the religious leaders of his day, Jesus reinterprets God’s grace. It is extended not to a select few who believe they deserve it, but to all in need.