There is a progression in the incidents that Luke is relating. He has shown the centrality of forgiveness, and the healings illustrate the reality of the forgiveness that Jesus brings. Now we see how this forgiveness spreads to people. Tax collectors collected money for the hated Roman rulers, they also usually took a cut for themselves as well. So tax collectors were a despised group of people. Yet Jesus goes and calls Matthew to follow Him. Matthew then invited lots of his tax collector friends. We are meant to take the good news to the environment within which we live.
Not surprisingly the Pharisees were scandalised. They questioned Jesus' disciples on why Jesus ate with such people. Although it was the disciples that the Pharisees questioned, it was Jesus who answered. His answer is that it is the sick who need a doctor, and it is "not the righteous, but sinners" who He has come to call to repentance. This can be taken on two levels. First, because the tax collectors were such sinners, they were precisely the sort of people who Jesus should be meeting with. Secondly, it can be taken as meaning that the Pharisees needed to realise that they themselves were not righteous and they too needed to repent.
Quite probably Jesus intended it to be taken in both ways. Note that Jesus has come to call people to repentance.
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