The word of God is living
and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, declares the Letter to the
Hebrews. This is so true, and this is
why that so often we can listen to God’s word and it can speak so pointedly and
directly to what is going on in our lives, even though the place and time of
our modern world is so different from the context of ancient Israel in which
God's word was written.
Ancient Israel was a very
divided society. On one side were the
pious Jews, such as the scribes and Pharisees, who strictly adhered to the laws
and commandments of God down to the smallest detail. On the other side were the people who did not
keep all of the laws, those who were deemed sinners or unclean, those who were
judged unworthy by their society. The
law abiding Jews shunned those who were deemed unclean: they did not do
business with them, they refused to give or receive anything from them, they
were not allowed to marry them, and they avoided any kind of social contact or
table fellowship with them. Jesus’
association with the tax collectors and sinners, those deemed unclean, shocked
the sensibilities of those who followed the letter of Jewish law. In calling Matthew to be one of his
disciples, Jesus chose one of the unlikeliest of men – a tax collector whose
profession was despised by the Jewish people.
When Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for the company he kept, he
explained how he sought out those in the greatest need. Jesus is like a physician, but he healed
people on spiritual & psychological levels, as well as on the physical
level.
In our society, just as in
ancient Israel, we can often judge people, especially by what is on the
surface. I remember one incident that
happened to me when I was a seminarian a couple of years ago. I had taken the Greyhound bus from Milwaukee
to visit some friends in Winnipeg, Canada.
On my way back from this trip I arrived in downtown Milwaukee at about 4
am on a very chilly winter morning, and was waiting on a street corner for the
local bus to take me back to the seminary in the suburbs. A police car came up to me; the officer asked
me if he could take me to a local homeless shelter or find me some help. I
guess that by standing on the street corner with a big backpack in the early morning
hours I looked more like a homeless person and not very much like a seminarian.
As this incident points out, often we can judge what we think we see.
In light of today’s Gospel
message, let us pray that God challenges us to look beyond labels and stereotypes,
that we open our hearts and not judge people.
May we be drawn into the living word of God, the word that links us with
Jesus sitting around a table with tax collectors and sinners, opening our
hearts to all as our brothers and sisters in God’s kingdom.
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