We Don't Deserve This
Feb 25: Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s readings can be read in a negative light or a positive one. I prefer both. We’re sinners, but Jesus offers salvation. We don’t get off easy, but it is possible to get off, thanks to Jesus.
Reading 1
Is 58:9b-14
Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; ""Repairer of the breach,"" they shall call you, ""Restorer of ruined homesteads.""
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD's holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice-- Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
At a time when Catholics are most aware of our Catholic “rules,” Mother Church reminds us that following the rules isn’t the point, and certainly isn’t sufficient.
Stop sinning, for sure, but also do good in the world. Praise God, but make it authentic praise. Show that it’s real by carrying your sincere beliefs into the world.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
This psalmist calms himself a servant of the Lord, yet also requires forgiveness? Yeah, that’s pretty normal for human beings.
When we pray to God for intercession, it’s worth remembering that we don’t deserve it. We ask for it out of God’s mercy. God loves us, so he’ll forgive and intercede. But not because He owes us due to our goodness; He does it out of his own goodness.
Verse Before the Gospel
Ez 33:11
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
God doesn’t want to punish us for sin. Sin damages our relationship with Him. He wants us back. That’s why he sent his only Son.
Gospel
Lk 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me."
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."
There’s a weird sort of anti-sanctimonious sanctimoniousness that goes around quoting verses like this. “See? Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, so he’d be fine with [whatever wrong thing I’m trying to justify].” But if you believe Jesus eating with sinners means he condones the sin, you’re not thinking like Jesus; you’re thinking like the Pharisees.
Jesus compares sin to illness. The people He ate with needed help. He didn’t tell them, “I’m okay, you’re okay.” Remember the adulteress who was about to get stoned? Jesus saves her twice: first by pointing out the hypocrisy of the crowd, then by telling her to go and sin no more.
We should invite Jesus into our house for a meal (or accept His invitation to the eucharistic meal), but not because we’re fine. We need a doctor.