Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 16, 2016 - Saturday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1 and Mark 2:13-17]SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016 SATURDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1a and Mark 2:13-17] Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." [Mark] Jesus' choice of Levi (Matthew) as one of his first disciples set some tongues to wagging. Tax collectors are not popular folks anywhere, but in Jesus' time, they were agents of the Roman authorities and also handled Roman coinage, which Pharisees would consider unclean and idolatrous because of Caesar's image on them. The Pharisees and scribes considered this choice scandalous. Jesus' reply to them is quoted above. A new book-length interview of Pope Francis has just been published. Its title is THE NAME OF GOD IS MERCY. In the first few pages, Pope Francis reiterates his now well-known image of the Church as a field hospital for sick and wounded sinners and not a club for a pious elite. Those who focus on the Church as a kind of perfect society will not welcome such an image. The apostles were not model Jews. Jesus chose a group of men who needed that field hospital, including the man who would betray him to the authorities. We could do well to remember that our very faith and our membership in our Church is really an act of mercy on God's part. We do not enter and close the door behind us to keep others out. In fact, our baptism makes us "field agents" for the hospital to bring others to be healed like that paralytic in Friday's gospel scripture. Some of us may enter the field hospital by the front door; others by way of the Emergency Room. We are all part of the mission of mercy. AMEN
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