Jesus’s second controversy with the Pharisees stems from his call of Levi (5:27–32). Levi is a model of discipleship because he “left everything and followed [Jesus]” (5:27). But Levi is also a tax collector, and tax collectors were despised in Jewish society because they used the tax system to line their own pockets. The Pharisees and the scribes, who emphasized segregation from anything that would make one unclean, are surprised when Jesus goes to a banquet attended by tax collectors and sinners (5:30). In this context “sinners” refers to others who are ritually unclean. By eating with these people, Jesus himself would contract uncleanness. He defends his association with sinners by enunciating the principle that the doctor comes to aid the sick, not the healthy (5:31). In verse 32 Jesu…