Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings

Analytically, there is a lot going on in today's readings.  There is a call, an anointing, a promise, a commission, and then there is this passage: "While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him.  Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”       

I want to call attention to the scandal, the fear, and the invitation that are found in these words.

Christ's open table fellowship was scandalous to many during His time, but it is an appropriate reflection of His limitless mercy and His desire to seek out every lost sheep in every corner of society.  The scandal the Pharisees experienced seeing Him eating with political and spiritual outcasts is clear as day in this passage.  I wonder though, did the 'sinners and tax collectors' understand that His openness wasn't limited to one direction?  I wonder if the people from this passage felt betrayed when He was buried in a pharisee's unused tomb?  Or would they lose trust if they saw Him in conversation with Nicodemus?  In a world of deep political opinions and divisive religious conversations we all have a tendency to want to pull Christ over by His wrist saying, “No, He's on my side!.”  We can be like school children bickering over who gets the professional athlete on our team during a pick-up game on the playground.  In all reality, in order to not be so scandalized by where and through whom Christ works we need to be on His side, not claim Him as ours.

For all of their indignation and self-righteousness though, you have to wonder why the Pharisees in this passage opted for asking the disciples and not Jesus about His choice in dinner guests.  It was possibly a cunning ploy to trap Him in His disciples' answer, but I believe part of it was fear.  They were afraid of the man who could perform great miracles, call people who drop everything and follow Him, and who seemed so far above their squabbles.  I think that deep down, somewhere they were afraid to encounter Him should they feel called to follow Him.  Afraid that He would rock their world of the status quo where they were comfortably on top.  We all experience this at some point.  We fear the encounter because we are afraid of what God might ask or what he is asking[1].  That fear comes from the fact that an encounter with Christ never ends without an invitation.

It took me half of a now deleted reflection to see the invitation in Jesus' response to the Pharisees.  Christ isn't sending them away with some cryptic answer that is supposed to leave them scratching their heads.  I don't think He is directly rebuking them either.  I think He is inviting them to step out of their disillusioned self-righteousness and see their need for Him.  He is calling them to breakdown the 'us' and 'them' barriers that they have erected between themselves and those they classify as sinners.  I don't think he is calling them to ignore sin, as they fear He is doing.  Rather, I think this is another example of the woman caught in adultery, He is asking them to stop ignoring the sin in their own lives and treat others who are capable of sin with the same respect they expect.

So, the scandal, the fear, and the invitation.  As we approach Mass this Sunday, let us have a healthy, respectful fear as we recognize the scandal of the invitation that God is offering us.  Let us do it in a spirit of repentance and reconciliation, because the care of the Physician begins with the patient admitting their sickness.  Not a fear that debilitates us, but rather one that has us all gathering together on His team, a team that we have been invited to be on because of His scandalous love.

-Spencer Hargadon