Publicans

(Tax collectors for the Romans)

Disreputable

• Matthew 5:46

  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

• Matthew 5:47

  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

• Matthew 9:11

  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

• Matthew 11:19

  The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

• Matthew 18:17

  And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

• Matthew 21:31

  Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.

• Luke 18:11

  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

Change their ways because of the preaching of John the Baptist

• Matthew 21:32

  For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

• Luke 3:12

  Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

• Luke 7:29

  And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

Matthew, the tax collector of Capernaum, becomes an apostle

• Matthew 9:9

  And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.

• Matthew 10:3

  Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphæus, and Lebbæus, whose surname was Thaddæus;

• Mark 2:14

  And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

• Luke 5:27

  And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.

Parable concerning

• Luke 18:9–14

  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. …

Zacchaeus, chief among, receives Jesus into his house

• Luke 19:2–10

  And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. …