Monday,
September 21, 2015
1st Reading:
Eph 4:1-7,11-13
Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus moved on, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why is it that your master eats with those sinners and tax collectors?”
When Jesus heard this he said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
For being a tax collector, society frowned upon Matthew as a public sinner. Under the arrangement of tax collection in those days he only had to remit a fixed amount to a financial procurator. He had authority from the Roman government to collect from his own people the taxes he saw fit to collect. He could collect taxes on real properties, agricultural products and commercial goods and amass wealth that could equal to many times the fixed amount remitted to the procurator. For oppressing his own people his countrymen hated him as a traitor. Yet the wealth he derived from his office was just too irresistible. But when Jesus came to his life his priority shifted. He left his post and became a disciple.
There were so many teachers and rabbis in those times, but it was only for the sake of Jesus that Matthew made this big sacrifice. He must have found in Jesus so much goodwill for public sinners. The people were not happy about his conversion. Under the laws of the Jews, a tax collector was impure, and anyone who associated himself with him was also treated an outcast. Jesus took the risk of being lumped with these outcasts by reaching out to tax collectors and sinners. Jesus merely required repentance. Matthew showed that he had this disposition by what he actually gave up. Deep within this person known to be a selfish taker of the hard-earned money of his fellowmen was a repentant heart ready for the sowing of the seed of conversion. Matthew became an apostle who gave himself totally to others as Christ’s disciple.
What are the things that hinder God from stirring our hearts to conversion? For Matthew it was his job. But he willingly gave it up even though it meant abandoning his source of livelihood. Are we ready to give up anything that hinders God’s grace from leading us to conversion? – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM . Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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