Saturday after Ash Wednesday
RE-CREATING ENCOUNTER
Jesus came to call sinners. It is they that need him, not so much the just or the righteous. It is the sinners who need healing. We are among them, and so we need healing. The Pharisees considered themselves just, but there was little mercy in them; their hearts were dried-up. It is mercy that Jesus wants, not sacrifices. Jesus comes to encounter Levi-Matthew. Just a call from Jesus and Matthew leaves everything behind: his desk, his past. He is a new man, created anew by Christ. He lives now for the future. His converted heart will turn to others too, as he becomes an apostle. In this Eucharist, Jesus comes to call us and to change us; he sits at table with us, as he did with Levi-Matthew.
Reading 1 Is 58:9b-14
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.
“If you watch your step on the Sabbath
and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God’s holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’
making money, running here and there—
Then you’ll be free to enjoy God!
Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.”
Yes! God says so!
Gospel Lk 5:27-32
After this he went out and saw a man named Levi at his work collecting taxes. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” And he did—walked away from everything and went with him.
Levi gave a large dinner at his home for Jesus. Everybody was there, tax men and other disreputable characters as guests at the dinner. The Pharisees and their religion scholars came to his disciples greatly offended. “What is he doing eating and drinking with misfits and ‘sinners’?”
Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”
Prayer
Lord, our God, merciful Father,
when you call us to repentance,
you want us to turn to people
and to build up peace and justice among us all.
According to your promise,
let us become, with your strength,
lights for those in darkness,
water for those who thirst,
rebuilders of hope and happiness for all.
May we thus, become living signs
of your love and loyalty,
for you are our God for ever.
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
25 February 2023
Luke 5:27-32
To be on the side of Jesus
During the Jubilee year of mercy in 2016, Pope Francis launched a book titled ‘The Name of God is Mercy’. The book was the result of an interview with Pope Francis by an Italian journalist. In the interview, the Pope talked about the logic of God, which is nothing but a logic of love that scandalised the pharisees and the teachers of the Law.
God’s logic of love is reflected in everything that Jesus says and does. Jesus reveals a God who doesn’t wait for us to be perfect or blameless before engaging with and loving us. Jesus engaged with people as they were, in all their frailty and weakness. That is how the Lord engages with each one of us.
Jesus scandalised the doctors of the Law, the scribes and the Pharisees by sharing table with people who were considered sinners by society. Sharing the table or having a meal together meant accepting one another as a member of the family or friends. We share meals with people close to us – our family or friends. In sharing the table with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus presents the face of God, who wants to be in communion with us just as we are. That experience of God’s loving communion with us will empower us to become the person God wants us to be and live the life God calls us to.
As we embark on the Lent season, the Church invites us to examine our lives to see how merciful and empathic we are in the Church community, society, and our families. We tend to label our brothers and sisters as good-for-nothing, outcasts and sinners and exclude them from our circles. Lenten fasting encourages us to fast from spreading rumours that label people as horrible, avoid gossiping, and cultivate empathy, mercy, and love.
Remember, the people who regarded themselves as the insiders – chosen people of God – the Pharisees and teachers of the Law – had become the outsiders, while the so-called outcasts – the sinners and tax collectors – became the insiders who had the privilege to dine with Jesus. On which side are we?