Discovery BoxMark 2:15-16 
Context2:15 As Jesus 1 was having a meal 2 in Levi’s 3 home, many tax collectors 4 and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 2:16 When the experts in the law 5 and the Pharisees 6 saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 7
Mark 16:14
Context16:14 Then he appeared to the eleven themselves, while they were eating, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him resurrected.
1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Grk “As he reclined at table.”
sn As Jesus was having a meal. 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.
3 tn Grk “his.”
4 sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked.
5 tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
6 sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.
7 sn The issue here is inappropriate associations. Jews were very careful about personal associations and contact as a matter of ritual cleanliness. Their question borders on an accusation that Jesus is ritually unclean.
