Daily Word Of God
Mark 2:13-17
Jesus went out to the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them. As he was walking along he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
When Jesus was at dinner in his house, a number of tax collectors and sinners were also sitting at table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of them among his followers. When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
When Jesus heard this he said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I came to call not the upright, but sinners.’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- Today’s Gospel passage contrasts the unquestioning courageous and generous response of Levi (Matthew) the tax collector to Jesus’ call to be His disciple with the skepticism and unbelief of the Scribes and Pharisees.
- Perhaps that was why Jesus exclaimed that He came for sinners, not the upright and the self-righteous who did not feel they needed God.
- Does your daily living of your faith reflect more of someone who is trying to respond to Jesus’ graces to live the Gospel (e.g. like Levi) or more of someone who is skeptical and self-righteous like the Scribe and Pharisee?