Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Let us follow Jesus this Lent. Let us learn from the example of Levi who is ready to get up and leave everything behind that would keep him from being near to Jesus. Levi doesn't analyze whether he is worthy of this call. The Pharisees think he isn't but Levi knows that the fact that Jesus calls him is what matters. He may be a sinner with friends who are sinners but this does not make him any less eligible for Jesus's love. In fact, it makes him the perfect candidate.
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Jesus calls us to him because he is able to see something deeper in us than our sins and our failings. He loves us more than we can ask, imagine, or deserve. This is what defines us. And this means that transformation is always possible. Sinner isn't an identity with which we are stuck forever. The Divine Physician is able to heal us, to sanctify us, and to make us holy.
He heals us by placing his own love inside of us. When we let it out we see his own light shining.
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
So we ask Jesus to teach us his ways. Then we can walk in the truth that we are not stuck as sinners. We are God's children now, being transformed from one degree of glory to another. All we have to do is follow him.
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