Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 13, 2018 - Saturday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1 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]
By definition, Levi (Matthew) was a "sinner" because he was a tax collector, and Jesus had just called him to be one of the apostles! The category of sinners was broad and included anyone who was in a trade that handled things considered unclean in the Mosiac law. And anyone who associated with unclean folks was considered unclean. One wonders why there were scribes of the Pharisee party at the banquet! If so, there is a sly invitation to them to realize the opportunity they were missing. By clinging to their righteousness, they were excluding themselves from the kingdom of God.
From the very first, the Gospel According to Mark sets Jesus against the kind of rigid righteousness represented by Pharasaism. They were well-intentioned in most cases, but had lost the idea of God's mercy in their efforts to stay within the confines of Mosaic observance. Their ideological descendants are with us in the form of fundamentalism.
In this incident, as it is reported in the Gospel According to Matthew (9:9-14) Jesus tells the scribes to "go and learn the meaning of these words, 'It is mercy I desire and not sacrifice.' Pope Francis has been urging us to do this time after time. Are we listening? AMEN