17 February, 2024 | Saturday after Ash Wednesday

 Reading:  Is 58:9b-14

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.”

Reflections:

The season of Lent has a penitential orientation for us. It constantly reminds us of the need for repentance and conversion. Of course, that means that we are going to be reminded of our sinfulness. In the Gospel, Jesus wants us to know that He came to call sinners to repentance. The Pharisees and scribes, afraid to challenge Christ directly, go to the disciples and seek to defame Christ by accusing Him of eating with “tax collectors and sinners.”  As always, Christ is aware of their schemes. He publicly rebukes the Pharisees with a powerful assertion of His authority, saying, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” The Pharisees, blind to their own sins, do not recognize that they themselves are also “sick” and should repent.

Sinfulness makes us sick in spirit. Jesus is our Healer. Let us turn away from our sinfulness and follow Him as Levi did.

Activity: 

Acknowledge in silence, your sinful ways and your need for healing.