Friday of 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Year II: reflection
Theme: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mt 9:13)
Reading Mt 9:9–13
Dear friends in Christ, seeing us live in sin is a thing that pleases the devil our enemy. He often employs a variety of tactics to accomplish this. One of them is to always present us with the hardliner’s perception regarding the sin we committed, a situation that often makes us become defensive or despondent in our wrongdoings. Another one is manipulating us against ourselves by making us to believe that we are too dirty to be admitted in God’s presence again, or making us feel that we do not need to go to confession since we will still fall into the same sin again and again after confession, or by convincing us to withdraw from the Church and her activities so that we will not hear God’s word that will remind us of the grave consequences of the life we have chosen to live.
But then, it is not the will of our God that we should live in sin. Therefore, He searches for us any moment we stray away from the sheepfold to bring us back. In today’s gospel, Jesus went to the tax collectors’ office — the very office that turned Matthew into a sinner — to bring him back to God’s sheepfold. When Matthew heard Christ’s call, he responded with an immediate ‘yes’ and followed Him.
What Jesus said to the Pharisees, whose stance often made those in Matthew’s position defensive or despondent in their wrongdoings, should be helpful to us who suffer from the consequences of a wounded nature. He told them and us that He did not come for the righteous, but for us sinners, because the righteous are already in their destined place, whereas we are not. This is a message of hope for us; Jesus came into the world for you and me, not to condemn us but to pull us out of that place or that life that reinforces our wounded nature. What should we do?
The call of Matthew teaches us that all we need to do is to answer ‘yes’ to Jesus’ calls that come to us every minute, make ourselves available to Him, and His healing touch will change whatever ugly story we have.
May the grace of God fill your life as you embark on the activities of this Friday. Amen
Fr Isaac Chima