Saturday after Ash Wednesday

“And Jesus answered them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’” (Luke 5:31-32).

In this story, Jesus tells Levi the tax collector to follow him, and he does so without question, leaving everything behind. What he seemingly didn’t leave behind – and what irked the Pharisees so much – were his apparently disreputable friends. Levi threw a big dinner party for them, with Jesus as the guest of honour. Predictably, the Pharisees harped on about it, and Jesus had to explain that the people he came to party with include all the guys who would probably be jeered out of the Synagogue. Since even the Pharisees were at Levi’s party, Jesus really isn’t too particular about who’s invited.

Jesus is at work in the tax collector, the sinner, and even the Pharisee, calling them to repentance as he heals them. We probably shouldn’t get in the way by shunning them, or by failing to invite them in, or by belittling them, or by questioning Jesus’ motives in wanting them around in the first place.

We can recognize Jesus most clearly, perhaps, as he works changes in people’s lives, especially when those people seem unlikely to us. After all, we don’t know anyone’s heart, as much as we may be proficient at passing judgement. Only the Physician knows what needs healing. As followers of Christ, we aren’t called to leave behind the people in our lives who no longer fit into our image of discipleship. We’re meant to invite them in, ask them to dinner, and allow the quiet work of Jesus to heal their wounds. It might be that they don’t want to show up, but we can still invite them. It might seem to us that the God we introduce them to isn’t changing them at all, but we really have no way of knowing.

Jesus is in the change, and Jesus is in our relationship with the people we kind of want to shun but whom he’s telling us to embrace. Jesus is also in us, working silently, maybe in ways we can’t see. We too are being healed, as we are invited to be with him and share in his life. We recognize Jesus by understanding that he is calling everyone; and because he calls them, they are worthy of our love.