Friday of 13th Week in Ordinary Time
THE LORD EATS WITH SINNERS
Amos castigates the people of Israel for offering sacrifices and observing religious feasts but not rendering justice; they are exploiting their brothers and sisters, who are with them people of the same covenant. He holds out hope for them if they are converted.
The Gospel, which Jesus preaches and lives, is not a religion based on the self-righteousness of people but a religion of love and mercy based on God’s pure generosity. This makes it possible for a typical sinner – an exploiter and a traitor to his people to boot – to be called to be an apostle. And Christ sits at table with sinners – with Levi-Matthew and his friends, with us now “so that sins may be forgiven.”
1st Reading – Amos 8:4-6, 9-12
Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,
you who treat poor people as less than nothing,
Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming
so I can go out and live it up?
How long till the weekend
when I can go out and have a good time?”
Who give little and take much,
and never do an honest day’s work.
You exploit the poor, using them—
and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.
“On Judgment Day, watch out!”
These are the words of God, my Master.
“I’ll turn off the sun at noon.
In the middle of the day the earth will go black.
I’ll turn your parties into funerals
and make every song you sing a dirge.
Everyone will walk around in rags,
with sunken eyes and bald heads.
Think of the worst that could happen
—your only son, say, murdered.
That’s a hint of Judgment Day
—that and much more.
“Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!”
These are the words of my Master God.
“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.
It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.
People will drift from one end of the country to the other,
roam to the north, wander to the east.
They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,
hoping to hear God’s Word—but they won’t hear it.
Gospel – Matthew 9:9-13
Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him. Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and misfits?” Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”
Prayer
God of mercy,
you put the self-righteous to shame
and you call sinners to the task
of bringing your Son’s salvation to the world.
Forgive us our pride and reassure us
that we can count on you and your love
because we are weak and sinful people.
Let us share in your life
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Reflection:
1 July 2022
Mt 9:9-13
The one who looked at you
What did Matthew think of the man who passed by and looked at him? We do not know. But we know that he perceived that he looked at him differently from how others looked at him. Indeed, he was not perfect, that his job gave him enough to live on… and to keep something more… if someone called that “stealing,” worse for them… they could have been wise, and become tax collectors, like him… and on top of that, they said that he was a sinner and that he did not live according to the law… well, so much the worse for them…”
Matthew would have thought, enough of justifications! –he would think, perhaps, after all the above– “because that look does not condemn you, like others; and if there is no condemnation, there is no attack; and if there is no attack, you have no reason to defend yourself anymore… Why is he looking at me like that? That look is different, something completely new. And he was taken aback.
What would Jesus think of that man sitting there, where He was passing by? We do not know. But we do know that he looked at him differently. As he did later with the rich young man, “he looked at him with affection.” And that he did not look at appearances but the heart. Because when you look with affection, you can always get to see the heart. And Jesus wanted to see, in the one sitting on the tax-collector’s chair, the project of man that God had dreamed for everyone, and not the caricature that he was being and that others constantly reminded him of.
And what would Matthew think at that precise moment when that man who passed by and looked at him with affection said to him: “Follow me”? We don’t know either. But we do know that that day changed his life. And that he trusted in love –because there is no fear in love–. And leaving the past behind, “he got up and followed him.”
The rest of the story is a –difficult– attempt to explain this game of looks, words, and actions to those who do not understand that God can make all things and all lives new. At any time and in any situation.
Are we good disciples of Jesus in this attitude of tolerance and trust with others? The temptation of ‘good people’ has always been to believe themselves to be saints, superior to others, and always ready to criticize and be narrow-minded and non-flexible. Jesus not only welcomed Matthew but made him his apostle. And Matthew responded perfectly. How much good the Gospel attributed to him has already done for two thousand years!
We must learn to have a welcoming heart with a condescending, understanding, forgiving, kind love. May you enjoy the story, and may you too allow yourself to be looked at by Him. Wherever you are.