Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?

I have had the privilege of meeting in the home of John Worcester each Sunday evening for the past few weeks.  A group of individuals who are interested in church planting have been gathering to glean from Jesus the many useful lessons to be applied to what we do.  John has been leading as we mine the Gospel of Mark.  This past week we were reading about Jesus' time in the house of Levi from Mark 2.  Levi, who had just recently responded to the invitation to follow Jesus, hosted a party at which there were "many tax collectors and sinners" along with Jesus and the disciples.  This, of course, would become a source of accusation by the Pharisees, "why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners."  It was at this point that I found myself being a bit distracted from the focus of the discussion.  I was really struck by the people that Jesus chose to associate with.   His group of disciples was of course quite diverse, some tax collectors, some rough around the edges, some with obvious religious training (Philip would declare to Nathanael, "we have found the One Moses wrote about...) and some were even what we might today call fundamentalist or extreme (zealot).  Jesus, however, then took this group along with him to rub shoulders with some very questionable people.  This would not be the only time Jesus was accused because he hung out with the wrong crowd, sinners, drunks and prostitutes.   OK, so what I am sharing is nothing new.  We all know who Jesus hung out with, so why did it hit me so boldly this week?  Here is what is different this time around...my context.  Simply put, this is a passage that I have only really been faced with intellectually until recently.  At best, the sinners and tax collectors have only really been metaphoric.  I have grown up in relatively safe communities in safe towns.  Yes, they are full of people far from God, who are sinners and who need a Saviour.  But, to be perfectly frank, I rarely came across the kind of person about whom people would notice and comment should I be seen in their presence.  The real "down and outers" so to speak, were not many and were not really obvious.  Today, however, I live in the city where I don't have to travel very far before the "sinners" are very obvious.  To hang out with the "sinners" these days means to associate with people who are completely different from me, with different stories and completely different experiences.  There are the homeless, the drunks, the crack heads and prostitutes.  Don't get me wrong, I don't naively head into the roughest part of town seeking out drug dealers to save.   I have, however, had the opportunity to serve and befriend a number of people with some pretty challenging stories and who do some pretty questionable things.   This past week alone I have had a drunk friend stumble up to me on my front lawn to say hi while I was watering the garden.  I have had a friend stashing some of his recyclables at the end of my yard at all hours of the morning.  I am not really sure what my neighbours think about all of this.  There have been things said, and conversations emerge that I never thought my children would be privy to.  This is all pretty new to me, sometimes it makes me uncomfortable and sometimes I have no idea what to do or say.   I do know that I count some of these folks as friends.  These are the kinds of people Jesus hung out with.  These are the ones that He took His disciples to see and spend time with.  These are the ones from whom He chose some of His first leaders.   I have to admit, however, it is a bit different today, a bit more real, a bit more challenging and a bit more literal.
I don't spend all my time with these folks, in fact my circle of influence has grown to be quite diverse these days.  The opportunity, however, is certainly there and it is one that I would like to make the most of.  I would like to live in imitation of Jesus as best as I can.  I do wish I could know what Jesus said as he interacted with the sinners and tax collectors gathered at Levi's.  I would find that helpful!