＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Isaiah 58:9b-14

If you remove from your midst the yoke,

The clenched fist and the wicked word,  if you share your food with the hungry and give relief to the oppressed, then your light will rise in the dark, your night will be like noon.

 Yahweh will guide you always and give you relief in desert places. He will strengthen your bones; he will make you as a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins will be rebuilt, the age-old foundations will be raised.  You will be called the Breach-mender, and the Restorer of ruined houses. 

 If you stop profaning the sabbath and doing as you please on the holy day, if you call the sabbath a day of delight and keep sacred Yahweh’s holy day, if you honor it by not going your own way, not doing as you please and not speaking with malice,  then you will find happiness in Yahweh, over the heights you will ride triumphantly,

and feast joyfully on the inheritance of your father Jacob you. The mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

 

Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke  5:27-32

 After this Jesus went out, and as he noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax-office, he said to him, “Follow me.”   So Levi, leaving everything, got up and followed Jesus.

 Levi gave a great feast for Jesus, and many tax collectors came to his house and took their place at table with the other people.   Then the Pharisees and their fellow teachers complained to Jesus’ disciples, “How is it that you eat and drink with tax collectors and other sinners?”   

But Jesus spoke up, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do.  I have not come to call the just, but sinners to a change of heart.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

Even sinners dream of a life with meaning. They too feel the gnawing lack that is in their heart. And no matter how much they satiate this gnawing hunger with the things of the earth, this hunger remains to vex them.

That is why when Jesus invited Levi to a different life that he is having right now, he did not hesitate. This is his chance to stave off the hunger for a meaningful life that haunted him for a long time. But others were not happy at his fortune.

They even complained to Jesus about it. That is why Jesus has to disclose His game plan. He came for the lost, the sinful and those who don’t know how to break loose from a meaningless life. They are the ones who need Him the most.