As a rabbi or teacher attracting a lot of followers, Jesus is expected to follow the examples of other teachers who stay away from people considered sinners so as not to risk being contaminated.

Here lies the difference in religious attitude between Jesus and the Pharisees and the scribes. The latter are quick to describe others as “sinners” and avoid their fellowship.

Jesus does not deny their situation; the people are “sick.” Jesus, the “healer,” associates with the spiritually sick to invite them to repentance. And sinners become “healthy” again. Jesus’ fellowship with them is already a sign of their reconciliation with God.

The meal they share with Jesus is already a meal of salvation. The calling of Levi/Matthew by Caravaggio is Pope Francis’ favorite painting.

The painting shows Matthew and the tax collectors counting all their money on the collection table, and Jesus pointing his finger towards Matthew with the words, “Follow me.”

Matthew’s calling had a very special significance to Pope Francis and to his calling. In fact, his motto, Miserando etque Eligendo, is taken from a passage from the venerable Bede: “Jesus therefore sees the tax collector, and since he sees by having mercy and by choosing, he says to him, ‘follow me.’ ”

The Pope recalls that on the feast of St. Matthew in 1953, at the age of 17, he experienced in a very special way the loving presence of God in his life.

Following Confession, he felt his heart touched, and he sensed the descent of the Mercy of God, who with a gaze of tender love, called him to religious life.

In a famous interview after he was elected Pope, a reporter asked the Pope, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” The Holy Father answered: “I am a sinner.”

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.”