Mark 2:16

ἔλεγον : the scribes advance from thinking (Mark 2:6) to speaking; not yet, however, to Jesus but about Him to His disciples. They note, with disapproval, His kindly relations with “sinners”. The publicans and other disreputables had also noted the fact. The story of the palsied man and the “blasphemous” word, “thy sins be forgiven thee,” had got abroad, making them prick up their ears, and awakening decided interest in these tabooed circles, in the “Blasphemer”.