Monday after the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 12, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Mark 2:13-17 (NKJV)
2:13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Devotion
This tax collector, Levi, is none other than St. Matthew, the author of the first Gospel (Matt. 9:9-13). Matthew is an example of Jesus’ mercy, for Jesus called him when he was a tax collector and made him an apostle of the Gospel of salvation. In this way, Matthew can testify to the forgiveness, peace, and joy that the Gospel brings, because he himself was a sinner saved by grace.
Matthew was not a worse sinner because he was a tax collector. Nor was the office of tax collector in and of itself an evil office. But tax collectors were known for taking more than was due and pocketing the difference (Luke 3:12-13). Matthew was, therefore, a good example of Jesus’ mercy because Matthew’s sins were public. All men are by nature enemies of God and in need of the Gospel, which promises forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Matthew was seen as a public sinner, so when Jesus publicly forgave and called him, it made the point that Jesus had specifically come to save sinners. Everyone who repents of his sins and believes this is saved. Everyone who thinks he is not a sinner is, like the Pharisees, blind, stubborn, and still unforgiven.
Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
