SATURDAY, SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Is 58: 9-14 Ps 86: 1-6 Lk 5: 27-32
THE CALL TO CHANGE
In the readings of today, God speaks to us through the prophet Isaiah and reminds us of how we come to the newness of spirit. If we call upon the Lord with a true and repentant heart, He will certainly hear us.
In the first reading, God calls us to share bread with the hungry and comfort the afflicted. Our acts must reflect the mercy of our loving God; only then will His light shine, and we will be like “watered gardens,” fruitful and plentiful. There is a further call to spend the Lord’s Day in reverence, for then can we seek “delight in the Lord.”. God clearly places the demands for an ethical life over religious practice. Five times in this chapter he begins with the word “if,” and twice he concludes those conditions with the word “then.” One such condition demands that we stop finger-pointing and stop speaking evil of others.
In the gospel reading of today, Jesus sees the tax collector, Levi, who perhaps was an outcast to the Jews of his time because of his profession. Tax collectors were despised on two counts: firstly, they collaborated with foreign rulers (the collected taxes for the Romans), and secondly, they were corrupt, extorting far more money than was due. They were shunned in Jewish society; to be associated with or even seen talking to one of these was unthinkable. Jesus invited Levi into a relationship with him. He loved Levi exactly as he was, even in his sin. He also loved him enough to not let him stay in that sin. Jesus loved him first! This is how Jesus looks at each one of us – with love and not condemnation. And Jesus wants us as well to look at each person with love and not condemnation.
The call to change our lives is the call to embrace Jesus again. The call to change our lives is the call to tell God, “I am sorry”. This is what the Lenten season is calling us to do. What is our response to this call?
Response: Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.
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