We have been noting that this meal is a meal with Christ and, as such, it is similar to the meals He would eat during the time of His earthly ministry. And one of the characteristics of the meals He had during His earthly ministry is that they drew criticism from the pious.
“And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?” (Mark 2:16).
The publicans were tax-gathering middlemen. They were collaborators with the hated
Romans, and they used the political power of Rome to benefit themselves at the expense of their countrymen. They gathered the necessary tax, and anything else they got was theirs. They were turncoats, and their despised status should be no surprise to us. The “sinners” here includes the prostitutes mentioned elsewhere in the gospels and, given the nature of their profession, they would have been well-acquainted with the Roman soldiery. This is characteristic of every occupied country—and the resentments they endured are not surprising.
What is surprising is that Jesus walks right by all this. He sits down and He eats with them. Now this is a rabbi, if we are to believe His Sermon on the Mount, who taught an standard of ethical behavior that was as high as the character of the Father Himself. So how could He eat with such sinners, while teaching this standard of unreachable holiness? Well, He did it because He lived that standard Himself. So come, sit down, and welcome.