Tax Collectors and Sinners

The Pharisees and scribes considered a person to be ceremonially unclean who would stoop so low as to eat with tax collectors and sinners. In their self-righteous view, Jesus was unclean and unfit to even belong to the kingdom of God. However, in Mark 2, Jesus offers tax collectors, and sinners entrance into the kingdom of God. Just this simple act was Jesus saying loud and clear that those who are self-righteous and think they are working their way to heaven are self-deceived. Rather, it's those who recognize their sin, those who repent and ask God to forgive their sin; it is these that are citizens of the kingdom of Christ.