A tax collector named Levi
Published Mar 5, 2022 12:05 am
REFLECTIONS TODAY
The tax collector Levi is identified with, and often referred to, as Matthew, the name given in the Gospel of Matthew (9:9). At the time Jesus calls him, Levi is at the customs post, his place of work. As tax collector, he is regarded as a public sinner, despised among the Jews as one who profits by collaborating with the hated Romans and robbing his own people. Jesus, therefore, creates a scandal when he calls Levi. But by this action, Jesus shows that God prefers forgiveness and gratuitous love over prescriptions of legal and ritual purity. Levi’s response to Jesus’ invitation is immediate. The call to discipleship thus becomes for him a special encounter with God who desires “mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13). Jesus comes and dines with Levi and his friends. This table fellowship typifies Jesus’ ministry to call not the righteous but sinners.
FIRST READING • Is 58:9b-14
Thus says the Lord: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.” If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight, and the Lord’s holy day honorable; if you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice — then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Gospel • Luke 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
The tax collector Levi is identified with, and often referred to, as Matthew, the name given in the Gospel of Matthew (9:9). At the time Jesus calls him, Levi is at the customs post, his place of work. As tax collector, he is regarded as a public sinner, despised among the Jews as one who profits by collaborating with the hated Romans and robbing his own people. Jesus, therefore, creates a scandal when he calls Levi. But by this action, Jesus shows that God prefers forgiveness and gratuitous love over prescriptions of legal and ritual purity. Levi’s response to Jesus’ invitation is immediate. The call to discipleship thus becomes for him a special encounter with God who desires “mercy, not sacrifice” (Mt 9:13). Jesus comes and dines with Levi and his friends. This table fellowship typifies Jesus’ ministry to call not the righteous but sinners.
FIRST READING • Is 58:9b-14
Thus says the Lord: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.” If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight, and the Lord’s holy day honorable; if you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice — then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Gospel • Luke 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.