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Gospel Reading for February 17, 2024 – Luke 5: 27-32
IGNORANT
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.”
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While the scribes and Pharisees loathed sinners and distanced themselves from them, Jesus did his best to look for them and even mingle with them. At that time, to be at table with someone meant having a relationship with that someone, that’s why the scribes and Pharisees were complaining. They did not understand because they probably were not concerned about the salvation of sinners. If everyone were like them – holy (as they claimed), they would not feel that they were above others. They would not “outshine” the others.
Even a lot of us Christians act like the scribes and Pharisees. We think that because we are daily churchgoers, big donors to the Church, always involved in Church activities, we are the “holy ones,” and others who are unlike us are not. This makes us IGNORANT of the fact that those who will be saved are those who acknowledge they need to be saved.
Lord Jesus, you are the Good Shepherd who never fails to look for the sheep who went astray. We pray that we may always keep close to you for the rest of our lives!
