Gospel: Luke 5:27-32

 

Jesus calls a sinner to be His disciple. Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, and he immediately left everything, follows Jesus, and begins to form part of the group of the disciples. Luke says that Levi had prepared a great banquet in his house. What is important here is the insistence on the communion of Jesus with sinners, around the table, which was a forbidden thing.

 

This gesture of Jesus causes great anger among the religious authorities. It was forbidden to sit at table with tax collectors and sinners, because to sit at table with someone meant to treat him as a brother! With His way of doing things, Jesus was accepting the excluded and was treating them as brothers of the same family of God. 

 

Instead of speaking directly with Jesus, the  of the Pharisees speak with the disciples: Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? 

 

Jesus answers. His consciousness of His mission helps Jesus to find the response to indicate the way for the announcement of the Good News of God. 

 

He has come to unite the dispersed people, to reintegrate those who are excluded, to reveal that God is not a severe judge who condemns and expels, but rather He is Father who accepts and embraces.