Luke 15:2

‘And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners, and eats with them.'

It is clear that Jesus welcomed these ‘public servants and sinners' openly (compare Luke 5:30; Mark 2:15) and was willing to eat among them, quite probably often in a kind of picnic situation (as when the five thousand were fed), although no doubt sometimes being invited to people's houses. And this was so much so that the Pharisees muttered among themselves at what they saw to be His ‘irreligious behaviour'. As they do not suggest otherwise, however, it is probable that even when doing so Jesus went to the trouble of proper cleansing in spite of the conditions. He still sought to avoid offence wherever He could. But that did not satisfy them. For even close association with such people was frowned on, and no Pharisee would have mixed with them.

It should be noted that the Pharisees and Scribes must not be seen as all bad. They would have welcomed these people one by one if they had come privately and had ‘repented' and had been determined to follow their ways, but they would never have sought them out, and such a one would first have had to follow very rigorous procedures in order to be finally welcomed after appropriate cleansing. They therefore totally disapproved of Jesus lax approach.