Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 12, 2011 - Saturday after Ash Wed.
[Isa 58:9b-14 and Luke 5:27-32]"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."
The famous comedian, Groucho Marx, is quoted as saying, "I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member!" Does it make us uneasy to think that we might be a member of the group that Jesus came to call to repentance - sinners? Would we prefer to stand on the sideline as one of the "righteous" and be an observer of salvation rather than a participant? A sign I once read had a message in large print that read: "REPENT!*" The asterisk referred to the small print at the bottom: "If you have already repented, kindly disregard this message!" How many of us can afford to disregard the message? Lent is a reminder to us of our continual need of conversion. Repentance may indeed involve "giving up" something, but it means more than giving up something for 40 days and then going back to it! Repentance aims more deeply at the heart and the realization that we need to forgive others and be forgiven. It means looking at our track record on justice and mercy and seeing how little we do for our neighbor. The passage from Isaiah today notes the damage we can do with our speech! Are we aware of what we say about others? If we can do a serious examination of conscience, we may realize (yes, with shame!) that we do qualify for Jesus' call to repentance and that we are already members of the "sinners' club," the ones he has come to call! Can we afford to disregard that message? AMEN
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