I desire mercy, not sacrifice - (Mt 9:9-13)
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus, eating a meal with tax collectors and sinners, formed a community with them. He was understood by those people who experienced the contempt of the Pharisees. It seems that Matthew saw in Jesus what he did not see in other people: goodness, respect, non-rejection, sincere kindness. Probably Jesus' disciples would not have sat down at the table with tax collectors and sinners if the Teacher had not done so. They followed Him.
So important in our following the paths of faith is not to differentiate between people. I create a community with those who need the truth, seek its breath, a new look through the prism of what is spiritual, eternal, coming from God. When we do not despise people, do not humiliate them, but show respect, they will discover in a simple gesture God's presence, His goodness.
What can a person see in me who is looking for something more than what is visible? If I follow Jesus, then I treat others as He did. It may be that those whom I keep away, sit at the same table with the Lord to eat a meal, and I am not there. Am I rediscovering what it is to follow Him? Being where He is and being absent in matters where He is not.
The disciples did not know how to respond to the allegation that their Teacher was eating with those whom the Pharisees' circle despised. When we are asked difficult questions and we follow the Lord, He answers it.
What is a great consolation for me in the words of Jesus are the last three sentences of the pericope. "Those who are healthy do not need a doctor, but those who are sick do." Not those who consider themselves morally healthy are healthy. This is how the Pharisees saw themselves. The healthy are those who consider themselves guilty. The sick are sinners. They are the ones who need the physician, that is, Christ. He has come to those who need Him, who want His touch. The sick are people who are not well, aware of their own moral poverty, waiting for mercy. Healthy people, on the other hand, do not realize that they judge the quality of their own lives by themselves, without God.
"Desire mercy, not sacrifice”. To be true, human faith should be built on mercy. There are many people who fast, repent, renounce what is good, but do not do mercy in all of this. They do not see those who do not fast, do not repent, and do not renounce what is good as people pleasing to God. Sacrifice makes sense in our lives, as long as it is based on mercy: compassion, kindness, freedom from judging others, forgiveness, helping those who are against us.
For " I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." The purpose of Jesus' mission is sinners. Unawareness of being a sinner causes human drama. It is connected with the fact that man does not want anything, does not desire anything, does not expect anything from God. There is a longing for the Lord in the sinner, for finding oneself in Him. Who is the sinner? This is a man who, also filled with weakness and moral poverty, relates his life to God, to His mercy. The awareness of being a sinner is the beginning of conversion.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george