Sunday Scripture Readings

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tenth sunday in ordinary time,

june 9

Hosea 6:3-6; Psalm 50; Romans 4:18-25; Matthew 9:9-13

OUR GOOD NEWS: God shows special concern for those who don't keep the rules. Today's Gospel addresses an issue of contemporary concern: our attitude toward sinners, especially notorious ones. Wisely, it neither advocates wholesale rejection nor naive, uncritical acceptance, but challenges our basic attitudes toward those who are not what we want them to be. Moreover, it's a revelation about what the hidden God is really like, and how he relates to us sinners. In challenging us to imitation, the story exposes our judgmental attitudes and behavior. But warning! We may find Jesus' teaching not only new but painful to accept. The account begins matter-of-factly, with Jesus making his way through a crowded street. But then, a remarkable - shocking? scandalous? - gesture happened. Jesus addressed a tax (toll) collector at his customs post, who responded positively and promptly. "And he got up and followed him." No reputable civil servant, this toll collector named Matthew, but a disgraceful Jew avoided by all but his ilk. These men made their living by overcharging passersby carrying a burden. With no manuals listing fees and dealing frequently with helpless foreigners who couldn't negotiate, Matthew and his confreres charged whatever they could get away with. Small wonder that toll collectors were the object of universal scorn. Amazingly, Jesus paused to invite this least worthy of Jews into the inner circle of his disciples! "And he got up and followed him." Jesus then compounded his scandalous behavior in two ways. First, no reputable Jew would enter the house of a public sinner, yet Jesus joined his new-found disciple in his home. All the more scandalously, Jesus ate dinner with him and his unsavory acquaintances, "many toll collectors and those known as sinners." Vigilant Pharisees were quick to complain of this unseemly behavior. "What reason can the Teacher have for eating with tax collectors and those who disregard the law?" Jesus' answer shocked his audience by observing that he had "come to call not the self-righteous but sinners," those who flaunt God's law. Today's story, which originally elicited shock from "good people," challenges us to re-examine our attitude not only toward sinners, but to Jesus, and therefore to God. They don't behave as we expect, or perhaps as we have been taught. When Matthew's equally low-life friends arrived for a meal, Jesus doubtlessly greeted them warmly and fitted in around the table. Meal-sharing, then as now, can serve as a quasi-sacramental gesture uniting participants in fellowship. Even today we need to share meals with family and friends, for eating together and the social environment builds fellowship. Jesus thus revealed his unusual messianic "specialty" - in sinners, the kind of people we tend to avoid. Jesus found and elicited good in them, all in the service of calling sinners back into favor with God. Are we similarly large-hearted, at least at times to accept, without approving, the behavior of others?