Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s first reading from Hebrews, one cannot help but be struck by the immediate, natural personification (i.e. it’s able to do what people do) of the word of God: “The word of God is living and effective… able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him…” (Heb 4:12-13, my italics). God’s word is the subject of an action: it discerns. The “him” in the passage has no other clear referent besides “the word of God,” which is, of course, identified with God. The author, who wrote in Greek, was no doubt familiar with the Hebrew language in which the word “dabar” means not only “word,” but also “action” and “thing.” There is no easy distinction between the three – words are actions and they are alive! Of course, we know that Christians have long understood Jesus as the Word of God. God’s Word is fully enfleshed in Jesus. In today’s gospel passage we see some of the power of that word to those who are open to its call. Jesus’ word incites action – He says “follow me” and Levi gets up and follows (Mk 2:14).

Yet we should be surprised, as Jesus’ contemporaries would’ve been, at Levi’s eager response. Levi (Matthew) is a tax collector. Tax collectors were so reviled by other Jews because they worked for the Romans, who oppressed the Jews. Not only that, they made their living by extorting their fellow Jews. See, Roman tax collectors paid Rome a flat amount for the privilege to collect taxes in a particular district, therefore tax collectors made their living by collecting over and above that amount – as much as they could get. Levi was held in far lesser esteem than the Pharisees who question Jesus (Mk 2:16) and therefore his immediate response to Jesus is that much more astounding. The people, in this case the Pharisees, are surprised. Levi doesn’t seem like the likely type. As usual, Jesus turns the tables on the Pharisees, mocking their self-righteousness – “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mk 2:17) is more than a little ironic.

St. Anthony of Egypt, whose memorial we celebrate today, mirrors Levi in his hearty response to the Word of God. Upon hearing the gospel injunction to “Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor” (Mk 10:21b), he actually did just that with his large inheritance.

Let us pray today that despite our sinfulness, we may, like both Levi and Anthony, be open to immediate, and perhaps drastic action, at the behest of the Word of God.

- Tim Gabrielli