Jesus collected several groups of people who thought they knew everything God had said. Unfortunately, they all missed the main point. Jesus had recognized their problem at the beginning--one of His first public appearances was at Passover, and He was not pleased. He was not surprised that the Temple establishment had turned it into a marketplace, and He let them know what God thought about it. This was not a temper tantrum; it was a coldblooded judgment. John finishes the story of this day by commenting that Jesus did not trust them, for "He knew all men and did not need anybody to testify about man, for He Himself knew what was in man."
He begins His teaching with being specific about what we, human beings, need most. When He is faced with a paralytic on a mat coming down through a roof, his first words are "Son, your sins are forgiven." The experts on God respond with "You can't do that!" Jesus' response is essentially "Yes, I Can." And then He completes the lesson by healing the paralytic.
The next thing we read is Jesus calling an social and political outcast as a disciple. I suspect that Matthew/Levi was more than he appeared. We know that he appears to have a better than average education (all Jewish men of that day had a basic Yeshiva education, at least till 12 or 13), and from the name, was possibly of the tribe of Levi. His response was a typical Middle Eastern one: dinner! His guests included his professional collegues, which brought a response from Jesus' growing gang of busybodies, who made snitty remarks about Jesus associating with the riff-raff of Matthew's social circle. Jesus response: You think you don't need help; the ones who can be helped are the those who recognize what they are missing.
The next incident is even more dramatic: Jesus is at dinner with a fine upstanding Pharisee, when a local street person quietly comes in with a jar of perfume. She comes up behind Jesus, washes his feet with tears and wipes them with her hair, and pours perfume on them. The Pharisee makes the snide comment that a real prophet would recognize such a sinner and not let her near him. Jesus then tells a story about two debtors who are facing their lender with the bad news that they cannot pay. The lender decides to forgive them both their debts, one much larger than the other. Jesus asks which one is the most grateful? The obvious answer: the one who had the larger favor. Jesus then points out the favor shown by the woman, compared with stingy hospitality from his host, forgives her sins, and sends her on her way in faith.
I see one more story in this series: another tax collector. On Jesus' last trip up to Jerusalem, he sees a small man in a tree by the road, getting above the heads of the collected crowds. Jesus calls Zaccheus down, and invites himself to dinner at his house. I find it interesting that the first thing we hear from Zaccheus is his description of his earnest commitment to honesty and ethics in a notoriously dishonest profession, and hearing Jesus promise salvation to a true son of Abraham, seeing in this man what He was about to die for.
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