Jesus of Nazareth, MD
Jan. 13: Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Christianity is a salvation religion. “I’m OK, you’re OK” doesn’t mean anything to Catholics. We’re not OK, which is why we need Jesus, a man who is more than OK.
Reading I
1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1
There was a stalwart man from Benjamin named Kish, who was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite. He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man. There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people.
Now the asses of Saul’s father, Kish, had wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go out and hunt for the asses.”
Accordingly they went through the hill country of Ephraim, and through the land of Shalishah. Not finding them there, they continued through the land of Shaalim without success. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but they failed to find the animals.
When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD assured him, “This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people.”
Saul met Samuel in the gateway and said, “Please tell me where the seer lives.”
Samuel answered Saul: “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today. In the morning, before dismissing you, I will tell you whatever you wish.”
Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul’s head; he also kissed him, saying: “The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage. You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout.
“This will be the sign for you that the LORD has anointed you commander over his heritage.”
Samuel told the Israelites he would find the king that God appointed. He winds up wandering the countryside, in the land of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, Benjamin. There, he finds a young man who’s herding asses and says, “That’s your king.”
The metaphor isn’t really subtle.
Responsorial Psalm
21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!
You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you refused not the wish of his lips.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
For you welcomed him with goodly blessings,
you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
He asked life of you: you gave him
length of days forever and ever.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you conferred upon him.
For you made him a blessing forever;
you gladdened him with the joy of your face.
R. Lord, in your strength the king is glad.
This is a royal psalm of thanksgiving, sung by the king himself. Even the highest royalty are expected to recognize God’s power and thank Him for His mercy.
Alleluia
Lk 4:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Is it weird that this quote from Luke is just Jesus quoting Isaiah? Kinda.
But the point is that Jesus is here for people who need His help, not people who are already OK.
Gospel
Mk 2:13-17
Jesus went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed Jesus.
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 love it when a story about tax collectors comes up, and the priest feels the need to explain in his homily, “Now, in Jesus’ time, people didn’t like tax collectors.” Yeah, we know. That part doesn’t get lost in translation.
Thing is, though, tax collectors were actually worse than they are now. Back then, they were basically freelancers for the Roman Empire. They were given a specific amount to collect. Anything over and above that number, the taxman got to keep for himself. And since people back then weren’t typically overly educated in mathematics, it was pretty easy to trick them into paying more tax than they actually owed.1
So right about now, I’m starting to wonder why Jesus is eating with tax collectors.
But that’s the thing. We’re all doing something like that, something dishonest, cheating our fellow man, hurting others for our benefit, in big ways and in small. As the author of Hebrews points out, God sees allllllllllllllll of it.
And Jesus is here to help. You and I may not be tax collectors, but we are sinners. Jesus invites us to a meal every Sunday.2 Won't you join Him?
Or every day, if you can.