The tax collector in Israel was a villain, but he was also a victim, oppressed by the Roman people. Tax collectors must have shared the same disappointment. They would have known the promise contained in Israel’s cherished scriptures: that when the nation needed saving the most, God would rescue his people. But Israel had fought Rome and lost. Having seen his people conquered and colonized, the tax collector must have wondered, Is God not all-powerful? Or is God’s power irrelevant? Pushing down those questions, the tax collector did what he had to do to make a living.
