I have not come to call the righteous
REFLECTIONS TODAY
In Jesus’ time, tax collectors were considered by the Jews as enemies of the people because they collaborated with their Roman conquerors. Tax collectors would also steal from their countrymen by secretly obtaining a percentage cut from the taxes they collected. They would collect more than what was prescribed (Lk 3:13).
In calling the tax collector Levi, Jesus tells the murmuring Pharisees and scribes that he has not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners. Jesus is the physician who will heal all illness—be they of body or spirit. He heals the sick, cleanses lepers, feeds the hungry. But he also drives out unclean spirits of possessed persons, welcomes sinners, and forgives people their sins.
What satisfaction do we gain from shunning people whom we think are sinners and unclean in their physical situations? Are we not all sinners in the eyes of God? St. Paul, quoting the Psalms, says that no one is righteous… all have gone astray (Rom 3:10ff).
Let us acknowledge that we too are in need of repentance. Let us imitate the mercy of Jesus. Let us do our part to make others feel the love and mercy that God made us experience through his Son, Jesus. We have no right to gatekeep what was freely given to us by God.
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.
Responsorial Psalm • Ps 86
“Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”
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 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.