Daily Word Of God
Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus was walking he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the custom house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- Matthew, like all tax collectors, was hated by the Jews as they are not only seen to be on the side of the Roman oppressors, but also they themselves were exploiting their own people for their own greed.
- Yet, Jesus called him because He saw beyond his sins and recognized the potential he had to be His good apostle.
- Jesus too sees beyond the sins that we have committed. He wants us to open our hearts, like Matthew, to His invitation to be his instrument/disciple of Good News in our daily living. Are our hearts opened and willing to respond, even if it is in a small way?