Saturday 20 January 2024

Background

In our reading today, Jesus continues to call people to follow him and become disciples. Tax collectors were socially stigmatised as a group – working for the Romans, they would often take more than they were due and the profession as a whole was full of corruption. Rather than avoiding those who were considered ‘sinners’, Jesus called a tax collector, Levi, to follow him. Levi went on to be one of the 12 closest disciples of Jesus.

The Pharisees, highly respected religious leaders, and the scribes (or teachers of the law), were again onlookers in the events depicted here, as in Luke 5:19-26. They raised two specific objections to Jesus’ ministry. The first concerned the company that Jesus kept. Pharisees would not eat with those they considered religiously ‘unclean’ or ‘sinners’ in order to avoid contamination. They were shocked that Jesus ate with ‘tax-collectors and sinners.’ Jesus’ answer highlighted the difference between their approaches. He believed that ‘sinners’ were able to hear God’s call and respond. He had come to call ‘the sick’ and ‘to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance’ (5:32). Repentance is about expressing sorrow for sin and turning away from it and towards God. Levi was a living example of someone whose life was turned around by an encounter with Jesus.

The Pharisees and scribes also criticised the eating and drinking habits of Jesus’ disciples, contrasting this with the frequent fasting (time without food or water) and praying practised by the disciples of the Pharisees and of John the Baptist. Jesus compared himself to a bridegroom and said that now was not the time for fasting. Verse 35 alludes to Jesus’ suffering and death, the time when the bridegroom would be taken away from them, as the time when his disciples would fast.

Jesus’ talk about wine and wine skins addressed his ministry and the new state of affairs which he announced – and how this was related to what had gone before. While the continuity between Judaism and Christianity was important to Jesus, his teaching and ministry could not be limited to the constraints of what had gone before. Jesus offered something new, although verse 39 may refer to Jesus’ recognition that some people would not want to hear his message and would prefer to keep the ‘old wine’.

To Ponder:

• It is easy for us to listen only to people who agree with us. Do you think it is important to hear other points of view – and if so, how can constructive dialogue be encouraged?
• Do you have friends or colleagues who hold different views or have a different faith to your own? How might you take time to listen respectfully and learn more about their beliefs?

Prayer

Jesus, thank you that no one is excluded from a relationship with you. Help me to understand what that means for me – and for my neighbour, Amen.