Saturday, 18th Jan., 2014: Inspirations from the Gospel (Mk. 2:13-17)

Saturday, 18^th Jan., 2014: Inspirations from the Gospel (Mk. 2:13-17)

In the gospel reading, we see the calling of Levi an apostle. As we learnt, Levi who is popularly known as Mathew was a tax collector, a group of people generally identified as great sinners. They exploited their people by inflating the tax and for this reason all tax collectors were regarded as evil people. Yet, Jesus saw in Mathew a candidate for a radical conversion though the Scripture did not make it categorically clear if Mathew was that bad as an individual.

There are two lessons we can learn today. The first is that Jesus does not treat people as stereotypes. Because most tax collectors are bad and Mathew is a tax collector does not make him necessarily bad. He saw something good in Mathew and called him despite his previous occupation. For us, let us not treat people based on the principle of general association. There might still be good persons even in the midst of that group you dislike be it lawyers, medical doctors, politicians, etc. Give people room to prove themselves individually.

Secondly, Jesus was not interested in what Mathew was, he was more interested in what Mathew could become by his grace. Thus, there is no room for despondency in our Christian lives. Though we are sinners today, Jesus invites us to cooperate with him and his grace would transform us like it transformed Mathew from a tax collector to an Evangelist. Therefore, today let us pray that God might call all sinners to Himself and grant them the grace to be totally transformed and converted to him. As you go about your endeavour today, may Jesus grant you unmerited favours. Good morning and Happy Saturday. Have a pleasant weekend.