Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 9:9-13
July 1, 2022 | Friday

Today’s Gospel

As Jesus moved on from there, he saw a man named Matthew, at his seat in the custom-house; and he said to him, “Follow me!” And Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why is it, tax collectors?”

When Jesus heard this, he said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go, and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Today’s Reflection:

Tax collectors were considered as public sinners during the time of Jesus so that they were avoided by the Jews because of their impurity. However, despite such stigma, Jesus still called Matthew to be His disciple and even ate with them so that the Pharisees criticized Jesus for doing such an unacceptable act. But Jesus told them by quoting the prophet Hosea, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”.

Indeed, the Pharisees were experts of the Law but they failed to live out its spirit which is to show mercy and compassion especially to the poor, the rejected and the marginalized. Everybody deserves a second chance as every sinner deserves many chances to change and repent. This is the reason why Jesus came into this world to call the sinners for conversion as “there is no saint without a past and a sinner without a future.” /Vulnerasti, 2022