THE WORD
Is 58,9-14 / Lk 5,27-32
After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Jesus invited the tax collector Levi (Matthew) saying: “Follow me.” At that time the tax collectors were the most despised people. Hence the Pharisees and scribes were reacting against Jesus’ holy invitation. Moreover, they were horri ed when Matthew left the money-table to sit with Him at the banqueting hall of forgiveness. They remarked: “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Such action awakened in Matthew his potential and dignity.
While the Pharisees and scribes saw only Matthew’s peripherals, Jesus saw his core (kardia). The word Kardia is used in the NT symbolizing a person’s innermost feelings, emotions and judgements. To grow spiritually one must go below the surface of neat appearance and proper behavior, a difficult practice at times when we are governed by our xations. Jesus saw beyond the failures and flaws of Matthew. That made Matthew change, leaving everything behind – job, home and security. He followed Jesus wholeheartedly without turning back. No wonder he knew and loved Jesus very well to the point of writing about Him in a gospel.
Some years ago there was this popular saying: “wholeness is holiness.” Matthew epitomized this. From the first reading of Isaiah we read thus:
...The light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday... He will renew your strength and you shall be like watered garden like a spring whose water never fails. (58: 10 - 11)
Are we becoming a spring for others like Matthew despite a murky past of our own?
- Fr. Eugene Orog, SVD | CKMS, Quezon City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
