There are certain kinds of people in this world which are difficult for some to accept and like. It could be the person’s character or attitude, it could be the person’s behaviour, or it could even be the person’s job or way of life. For example, how many of us are genuinely willing to show care and concern to prostitutes if one happens to come to us for help, especially when the person is wanting to change to a different and better way of life? Would we be willing to help? Or have we become prejudiced towards such persons and prefer to shun them?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Tax collectors were hated and shunned by the Jews, because they not only collected money from the Jews for the Romans, but they were also allowed to collect more (which could range from a bit more to a lot more) for their own survival. But Jesus was not only willing to call Matthew to follow Him, He was also willing to eat with the tax collectors and sinners. Eating with tax collectors and sinners was an unthinkable and shocking thing to the Jews, especially among the scribes and Pharisees, since they thought that people would normally eat only with good friends or close friends. But Jesus reminded them: “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.”
What about us? Are we willing to offer our time with the tax collectors and sinners around us? Are we willing to eat with them, reach out to them, be a friend to them, and help them out? Or have we become like the scribes and Pharisees, self-righteous and only knowing how to condemn others? Remember that we too are sinners, and if God can be loving and merciful to us, shouldn’t we be doing the same towards others?