A tax collector called; a meal with sinners
Life of Jesus · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 9704f2106f02be65 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: Ministry in Galilee. A guided comparison of Gospel accounts, not a measured calendar or a claim that every parallel follows the same sequence.
Jesus calls a tax collector and shares a meal with tax collectors and others regarded as sinners. Challenged about his company, he describes his mission through the image of a physician serving the sick.
Matthew names the collector Matthew; Mark and Luke name Levi. Their traditional identification is a comparison across accounts, not an explicit statement in these verses that Levi changed his name.
Primary Scripture
9:9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him.
9:10 Later, as Jesus was dining at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Him and His disciples.
9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
9:12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
2:13 Once again Jesus went out beside the sea. All the people came to Him, and He taught them there.
2:14 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.
2:15 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.
2:16 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?”
2:17 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.”
5:27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him,
5:28 and Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.
5:29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them.
5:30 But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
5:31 Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Related Scripture
Matthew includes Jesus’s appeal to Hosea’s priority of mercy.
Location evidence
Capernaum is inferred from the surrounding healing and lakeside scenes. The collector’s booth and meal location are not independently identified.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.57516, 32.88059]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Capernaum: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.57516, 32.88059]. Classification source: rule.
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire
For the class
What does the physician image say about the purpose of the meal?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: theographic (288)
Record source: editorial
Events and places adapted from Theographic Bible Metadata (github.com/robertrouse/theographic-bible-metadata), CC BY-SA 4.0. This adapted data is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm