Reflection for FRIDAY, 13th Week, Ordinary Time.

By

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Assistant Parish Priest,Manjeshwar,Kasargod

 Reflective Reading of the Word of God


 Matthew 9:9-13 


It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick

As Jesus was walking on, he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

  While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘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.’

 Reflections on the Readings 

The Old Testament literature is full of imagery and symbolic language.

So it may be necessary to understand the imagery and the symbols in order to understand the significance of the message.

In the 1st reading, we hear of Abraham making his steward swear an oath to choose a wife for his son Isaac according to his specific instructions.

Then we hear of a peculiar action - Abraham made the steward put his hand under his thigh to make the oath.

In other words, the steward had to reach down and grasp Abraham's manhood,  and then swear an oath upon the seed of Abraham's tribe, that he would make every effort to adhere to the promise he was to make. That is a rather graphic description and rather obscene to think about.

In fact that is how the word "testimony" derives, as the Latin root "testi" refers to the glans from which the seeds of life, and each man's future progeny or legacy is propagated.

But the steward was not to take hold of his own groin while making his pledge, but that of Abraham's,  and so it symbolically stood for that of every member of Abraham's tribe.

Abraham was instilling in his steward the grave importance that Abraham himself invested in what was being demanded of his steward. Abraham was staking the future of his entire tribe on this one oath.

In the gospel, we hear of a testimony, and that is from Jesus the Son of God. Jesus proclaimed to us the promise of God.

"What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners".

Only when we confess that we are sinners will we be able to understand the saving mercy of God. And only then will we be merciful and compassionate to others who sinned against us.

Tax collectors were Nationally traitors, Morally corrupt and Religiously dishonest. 

But Mathew responded to the call by opening g his heart, inviting Jesus to his home and opening g his hand to the Service of the Lord. 

Let's also open our hearts to the Sacred love, invite Jesus into our home to render service in his Vineyard. 


        GOD BLESS YOU

Good morning. Have a nice day