Memory of Jesus crucified

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 9,9-13

As Jesus was walking on from there he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him. Now while he was at table 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: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed I came to call not the upright, but sinners.'

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Walking, Jesus sees Matthew, a tax collector in charge of collecting the taxes for the Romans. This is why publicans were considered cheaters and were scorned. Jesus gets close to him and calls him, "Follow me." Matthew, unlike many people who considered themselves religious and pure, immediately gets up from his desk and begins to follow Jesus. From a sinner that he was, he becomes an example of how to follow the Lord for the disciples of every time. Even more, with the Gospel that bears his name he has become a guide to many. We also follow this publican and sinner who leads us to the knowledge and love of the Lord Jesus. Matthew immediately invites Jesus to a banquet. His friend tax-collectors and some sinners come too. It is a strange banquet: composed, in fact, of publicans and sinners. Some of the Pharisees are scandalized by this scene and say to Jesus' disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?" Jesus responds directly to the controversy with a proverb: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." For him, in fact, there is never a Manichean division between good people and bad people, between the righteous and sinners. Jesus just wants to explain his mission: he has come to help and to heal, to liberate and save. And Jesus adds a quotation from the prophet Hosea, "Go and learn what this means: mercy I desire not sacrifice." In the passage of the prophet (Hos 6:6) the word "sacrifice" is referred to ritual practices. For Jesus it is not the rites that save but God's mercy. This is why those who follow him are those who need that God heal their wounds and succour them in their sins. And even getting closer to each of us, Jesus adds, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."