Mark 2:16

2:16 When the experts in the law ¹  and the Pharisees ²  saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ³ 

Mark 9:14-16

The Disciples’ Failure to Heal

9:14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and experts in the law ⁴  arguing with them. 9:15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were amazed and ran ⁵  at once and greeted him. 9:16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”

¹ tn Or “the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

² sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

³ sn The issue here is inappropriate associations. Jews were very careful about personal associations and contact as a matter of ritual cleanliness. Their question borders on an accusation that Jesus is ritually unclean.

⁴ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

⁵ tn Grk The participle προστρέχοντες (prostrecontes) has been translated as a finite verb to make the sequence of events clear in English.