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.”

Refection

It's fascinating to me that the audience that was most open to Jesus were the people who somehow knew their need for something to change them.

They were aware, as we might be aware, of something in our body that doesn't really feel right. And we go to someone and we say, What is it that we need to do or I need to do to take away this pain? People that know they are sinners carry a certain shame and a certain guilt that is healthy and Jesus comes to heal that.

And it’s terrifying to think that the Scribes and Pharisees never, ever thought about whether or not they were doing the will of God, which is taking care of people. They simply took care of themselves, and displayed themselves as examples of perfection.

Closing Prayer

Farther, it's fascinating that throughout the ministry that you had on this earth, there was this constant conflict between your work and the work of the religion that was destined to reveal you. It gives us a sense of the tension that will probably always be there between institutions and the work of God in our hearts. Help us to deal with this problem and to find a peaceful solution, knowing that the church, institutions are there to help. And yet they are always secondary to the work of God in our hearts. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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