Saturday of The First Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 16th January, 2021

 Saturday of The First Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 16th January, 2021

Readings: Heb.4:15-16, Ps. 18, Mark 2:13-17

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE CALL OF LEVI, A SIGN OF HOPE FOR All SINNERS

The mission of Jesus is often misunderstood by people who feel that they should be the one to dictate to God what to do. But Jesus will always surprise them and use them to set good example for the rest of us. This is evident in our Gospel passage today, which presents to us the call of Levi who was a tax collector, a presumably public sinner. As Jesus passed by, he said to Levi, “Follow Me.” This is a present tense command which is a call for Levi to leave his old way of life behind and to begin a new life of following him. 

But why would Jesus have any interest for a man like this? There is only one word that can answer this question, that is, grace. In spite of his ugly occupation; his ugly lifestyle; his failures; and his sins; Jesus loved Levi and he called him to a new life.  The fact remains that, Jesus never condemned anyone nor does he judge people by their past behaviour. He is only interested in what they can be now and in the future. There and then, Levi drops everything and goes after Jesus just the same way Peter and Andrew, James and John had also done. 

Later, when Jesus is dining at Levi’s house, several known sinners and tax collectors were at table with him and his disciples. This  was a real scandal for the scribes and Pharisees. For them, if Jesus really was a Rabbi he would have had nothing to do with such people. But Jesus replied: It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous but sinners. Hence, Jesus' whole mission is the salvation of souls and redemption of people to wholeness. And the best way to achieve this is by having a direct contact with them. But we are often not present where people are most in need of hearing God’s message. Sometimes, we tend to side with the Pharisees and feel we should keep away from sinful and ‘immoral’ people. 

Dear friends, we need to learn that the Gospel message can most effectively be communicated to those who have lost touch with God and the meaning of life by reaching out to them. We should not be afraid to reach out to people, especially those who have been capture by the things of this sinful world. For we heard in our first reading today that, the word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts of everyone.

Hence, Jesus calling Levi to follow him shows that with God there is great mercy to pardon the greatest sinners. There is grace to change the greatest sinners, and make them holy.  And this is a great sign of hope for anyone who thinks that God has abandoned him or her because of sin or past ugly ways of life. God is not interested in our past ugly and sinful ways of life. Rather he is interested in what he can make out of us now and in the future.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, your love and compassion for humanity is so great, even in our sinful and ugly ways of life, you never abandoned us. So Lord, when sin separate us from you, may your grace and providence bring us back. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful weekend.