Overview
Publicans were tax collectors who worked for the Roman government in first-century Judea. They were deeply unpopular among Jews, viewed as traitors and sinners for their collaboration with Rome and their reputation for extortion and fraud. Yet Jesus deliberately associated with them, calling the publican Matthew as an apostle and dining with tax collectors, which scandalized the Pharisees.
Key Scriptures
"And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and his disciples" (Matthew 9:10, ESV).
"Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him" (Luke 15:1, ESV).
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you'" (Matthew 21:31, ESV).
Application
Jesus's outreach to publicans reminds believers that Christ came to seek the lost and that genuine repentance, not social status or religious credentials, determines entry into God's kingdom.