GOSPEL, Matthew (9: 9-13)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew
The Call of Matthew
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
God’s mercy is shown by the great revelation of the coming of Jesus among us. Being merciful is also the attitude that we have the most difficulty in showing to our brothers and sisters. We are more easily righteous than merciful. That is why we are so unchristian!
The charge the Puritans’ made of Jesus was true. He kept the company of sinners, people of ill repute. Today’s Gospel narrates that Jesus invites a tax collector, to join His Company, one who was regarded by the people as one to be avoided socially and religiously.
Jesus justifies this choice, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (Mark 2:17). Jesus shows God’s mercy by welcoming the sinners and the ignorant: These captured Christ’s liberating message better than the righteous and the wise.
God’s mercy is love and it is intended to reach out to all of Humanity, in order to inspire and redeem them. For the Lord, authentic religious purity is not the same as legal purity, but a conversion to love, piety and mercy. A religion without a commitment to life is not pleasing to the Lord.
Religion is valid when it manifests unconditional faith and surrenders it to God in answer to a love that preceded us first in Christ; it manifests the attitude of receptivity and poverty towards the gratuity of God, who loves us because he is good and not because we deserve him.
We must worship the Father in spirit and in truth, with empathy for the socially and religiously marginalized, with understanding, tolerance and justice for all. These principles are the very least we must strive for in our worship of God, to show Him unmistakeable gratitude for His relentless mercy of all sinners through his only Son and his Word, which is Christ our Lord made man. “ He who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25).
PRAYER
God of mercy, we bless You, by Christ, Matthew a sinner was made holy, a living proof of Your Word of Love and Mercy.
May the breeze of your tenderness flow into our hearts with the eternal hope of a place at your table beside Christ at your banquet. Amen.