²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors^(A) and others were eating with them. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect^(B) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(C)

²⁹ (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John.^(A)

³⁴ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’^(A)

The Parable of the Lost Sheep^(A)

15 Now the tax collectors^(B) and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.