Mercy, not Sacrifice
Forgiveness links the call of the tax collector to the healing of the paralytic – Christ’s authority to discharge sin and restore men – Mark 2:13-17. When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins forgiven, he offended the Scribes and Pharisees, and he alienated them further by showing mercy to “ sinners ,” those individuals considered especially unacceptable by the more religiously observant Jews. Seeing the Nazarene eating with “ tax collectors ” and other sinners, the Scribes and Pharisees insinuated that Jesus was also a notorious sinner – (Mark 2:1-17).