He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.
World English Bible
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He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.
World English Bible
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58 have Jesus say *hai alōpekes phōleous echousin kai ta peteina tou ouranou kataskēnōseis, ho de huios tou anthrōpou ouk echei pou tēn kephalēn klinē* — 'foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' Mark 2:1 and 2:15 reference Jesus being *en oikō* (at home) in Capernaum and entertaining guests.
Critical scholarship: Usually considered reconciled.
Historical detail
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
The Gospels can't agree on how Jesus' followers should treat tax collectors. The Synoptics paint Jesus as the friend of publicans, eating and drinking with them as a deliberate boundary-crossing gesture (Mark 2:15-16; Matt 9:10-11; Luke 15:1-2).
Critical scholarship: Genuinely disputed among scholars.
Law & ethics
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
Within each section, grouped by shared field or question type — not a cross-section comparison.
This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"Mark 2:15 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/mark/2/15?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).