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In Paul Lee Tan’s book of illustrations a tax collector is described thus:
In Jesus’ time, “tax collectors” appeared high on everyone’s “most hated” list. The Jews were an oppressed people, living under the Roman military occupation. They regarded their assessments more as forced tribute to the Emperor than as funds collected to defray expenses for governmental services. The despised tax collectors were those Jews who had brought their offices from the Roman Authority.

The Roman oppressors simply assessed the tax collector a fixed amount for his territory. He, in turn, had the job of raising the money--with enough left over to make it a profitable business for himself. This was, in effect, a license to practice greed and injustice. The more taxes collected, the higher the tax collector’s profits.

Gangster methods of collection were not uncommon. For these reasons, a tax collector was regarded not only as an extortionist but as a traitorous person who had “sold out” to the Roman oppressor.

When the world looked at a tax collector, they saw a greedy, dishonest traitor. That can be seen in the accusations the Jews brought against Jesus. The Pharisees wanted to know why Jesus would even eat with publicans (tax collectors) and sinners (Matt. 9:11). Jesus knew that He was being labeled as a man who was “gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matt 11:19). So why did Jesus keep company with these hated elements of society? He saw something in them that others did not see.

Jesus saw beyond that which others hated to something He loved. Jesus saw a soul worth more than the whole world (Matt. 16:26). Therefore, “he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matt. 9:12-13). Jesus knew that these kinds of people were the very ones His Father had sent Him to earth to seek out and save (Luke 19:10). Jesus saw not only what they were but what they could be.

Was Jesus successful in reaching this seedy, dishonest element of Jewish society? Yes! One of Jesus’ most famous one-on-one encounters recorded for us was with a man named Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector and had the reputation among the people of being a sinner (Luke 19:7). Jesus, however, went to him anyway. He even went into Zacchaeus’ house leaving the “more worthy” self-righteous behind. The product of this encounter was that salvation came to the house of Zacchaeus that day (Luke 19:9), and he was not the only tax collector to be saved through the teaching of Jesus. Luke tells us that “all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him” (Luke 7:29-30). As it turned out, many of the publicans were in that elite group of “common people” who heard the Lord gladly (Mark 12:37).

How did Jesus gain an audience with such a group? Maybe it was because He did not consider them beyond saving. Maybe it was because He did not paint all of them with the same brush. In part it was because he chose from their number a righteous man to be one of His twelve apostles. “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. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them” (Luke 5:27-29). Maybe it was because Jesus knew that they were no different than any other group. They were sinners and needed a savior, and He was their only hope. Please, dear Father, help me to be like my Lord and see and love others the way He sees and loves them.