But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
Christ's choice to call Levi from the tax booth is a wonder of grace, not merely that He admitted fishermen, but that He admitted publicans, men of notorious ill fame. No heart is too hard for His Spirit to work upon, and He keeps company with the unconverted so that He might heal their souls, which is the very design of His coming.
AI summary
Commenting on Luke 5:27-39
But their Scribes and Pharisees,.... Not the Scribes of the publicans and sinners that sat down, but the Scribes of the people in general; the Scribes of the Jewish nation: all the eastern versions leave out the word "their": murmured against his disciples, saying; or, "murmured, and said unto his disciples", as the Syriac and Persic versions render it: that is, they either murmured at...
Verse 30. No entry from BARNES for this verse.