The Call of Levi
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Mk 2:13-17
13[Jesus] went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. 14As
he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs
post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 15While
he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with
Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. 16Some
scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax
collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax
collectors and sinners?” 17Jesus heard this and said to them
[that], “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I
did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Reflection:
He was eating with sinners and tax collectors.
Jesus shows an attitude to sinners in sharp contrast to the position of
the scribes who are Pharisees and are, for the ordinary people, models
of moral uprightness. Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector and— in the eyes
of the Pharisees—a sinner. He then joins in the meal with other tax
collectors at Levi’s house.
Without
condoning sin, Jesus goes out to seek sinners to win them. The scribes
who are Pharisees, in contrast, disdain eating with such people and
criticize Jesus for his table fellowship with tax collectors and
sinners. Jesus hates the sin but loves the sinner. He seeks the company
of sinners, not to join them in sin but to win them away from sin.
In your attitude to sinners,
whom do you resemble—Jesus or the scribes?
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