Friday, July 01, 2016
13th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
Am 8: 4-6. 9-12
Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus moved on, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the customhouse, 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)
Matthew was a tax collector. Like other tax collectors society hated him for taxing his fellow Jews in favor of the Romans. What do you think was the reaction of the public when Jesus chose Matthew to be his follower? Jesus tried to soften the impact by presenting a compelling divine interest for choosing a sinner as big as Matthew. He said, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Today, Jesus’ preferential option for sinners hasn’t changed. But peoples’ lack of appreciation for this privilege hasn’t changed either. While God’s mercy abounds, human hearts have remained impenetrable, at least, for two reasons. The first reason is adamant rejection of God’s love. The second is compulsion. Where the reason is adamant rejection, God chooses to remain powerless out of respect for human freedom. Where the reason is compulsion God is ready with abundant mercy and compassion.
Those under compulsion deserve God’s magnanimity because of the impairment of their freedom. The Physics principle in Magnetism called “remanence” is instructive. When electricity passes though the wires of a coil, the core turns into a magnet. Even when electricity is cut off, the core still retains residual power called “remanent” magnetic power. At the spiritual level, sin programs a person’s preference to evil things. Even when sacramental absolution flashes out sin the person’s system still retains a certain degree of inclination to sin. The longer one had been a hardcore sinner, the more powerful the “remanence”.
This remanent power of sin takes the person hostage. The resulting compulsion mitigates moral culpability. In the eyes of God he is the lost sheep requiring personal attention. This is the kind of sinner Jesus was referring to when he said, “I have come to call sinners, not the self-righteous” (Matt. 9:13). – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM., MMExM., REB., Email: [email protected].
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