REFLECTIONS TODAY

In the Greco-Roman society, as well as among the Jews, eating in a banquet mirrors the sharing in the status of those invited. To eat with tax collectors would be unthinkable for the Pharisees and their scribes who consider themselves as perushim or “separated” from people who are not observant of the Law. And so they are shocked to see Jesus eating at the banquet of the tax collector Levi. But Jesus comes as a physician of the “sick,” those deemed as sinners and outcasts by self-righteous people. He opens the door of the Kingdom of heaven to them and they are the first to enter—by receiving the baptism of repentance in the hands of John the Baptist and now by being open to the preaching of Jesus. Pope Francis warns us against the malattia (disease or sickness) of “closed circles” which is found where belonging to a special group is stronger than belonging to the community. The cure is to have “ ‘the same sentiments that were in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 2:5), sentiments of humility and unselfishness, of detachment and generosity’ ” (Address to the Roman Curia, 22 December 2014). 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 • Lk 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 2023,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]); Website: [http://www.stpauls.ph](http://www.stpauls.ph).*