Passage
The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
Luke 15:2 (WEB)
Nearby Context
Luke 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.
Luke 15:2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
Luke 15:3 He told them this parable.
Luke 15:4 “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "pharisees", "scribes", "murmured", "saying", "welcomes", "sinners", and "eats". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pharisees" and "scribes", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Now all the tax collectors and sinners..." into verse 3's "He told them this parable...", so "pharisees" and "scribes" belong inside that flow. In Luke context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "pharisees" and "scribes" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.