Readings for Saturday after Ash Wednesday[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Isaiah 58:9b-14
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
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.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD's holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Is 58:9b-14
The Prophet continues exhorting the people to understand that God desires a spirit of compassion and generosity. He tells the people that if they follow this course they will be greatly rewarded and will receive rich blessings from God.
In the second paragraph Isaiah explains what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy. Again, following this command brings the faithful rich rewards from God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:[4] Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (11ab) Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Psalm 86 is a lament. The psalmist sings of a life afflicted and asks God to give his servant relief. The song indicates the faithfulness of the singer, even in times of distress.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 5:27-32
After this he (Jesus) went out
and 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.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Luke 5:27-32
The story of the call of St. Matthew in Luke’s Gospel immediately follows Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees that culminated with the cure of the paralytic lowered through the roof. “A man named Matthew: Mark names this tax collector Levi (Mark 2:14). No such name appears in the four lists of the twelve who were the closest companions of Jesus (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13 [eleven, because of the defection of Judas Iscariot]), whereas all four list a Matthew, designated in Matthew 10:3 as "the tax collector." The evangelist may have changed the "Levi" of his source to Matthew so that this man, whose call is given special notice, like that of the first four disciples (Matthew 4:18-22), might be included among the twelve. Another reason for the change may be that the disciple Matthew was the source of traditions peculiar to the church for which the evangelist was writing”[5] .It is much more focused on the reaction of the Pharisees than the same story in Matthew (Matthew 9:9). The message, however, is clear. Jesus came so that we (who are all sinners) might understand that God’s love is for them as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.”
Jesus uses the analogy of healing to emphasize the impact faith has on the individual. The Pharisees, with whom Jesus is in tension, have seen a man who is clearly God. In the story just prior to the call of St. Matthew that is presented today, Jesus responded to their rhetorical question; “Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Jesus demonstrates to them that he is God by curing the paralytic who they see as being afflicted by God because of his sin.
These astounded Pharisees next see Jesus go to a tax collector “named Levi” (see the commentary above for the name change information). Tax collectors of the day were considered toadies of the Romans who extorted money from their own people. They were not welcome in polite company. Not only does Jesus address this outcast, he calls him to be one of his students – a disciple.
We can empathize with the Pharisees; they are desperately seeking the Messiah. They have seen this holy man from Galilee fulfilling all the predictions of the Prophets and performing miracles – they are almost certain he is the one but then he does not fit their expectation. Surely the Messiah would come in royal garb, with power and majesty. He would be an arch-type of the High Priest at the Temple in Jerusalem, only grander still. The Messiah would cause those who were steeped in sin to be punished; not call them as students or friends.
To their complaints Jesus tells them “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.” “What does that mean?” they must ask. They understand that Jesus sees the sin in this man. But the Messiah comes for them as well and they are not like this man, they have not sinned. His phrase is a statement of mission and an accusation of those who believe that their pious acts exempt them from God’s deeper law of love.
This same promise and diagnosis comes to us as the message embedded in the call of St. Matthew. Our Lenten call to conversion is intensified by our own need for the spiritual physician who is the Lord. We need to be healed and he has come to do so. But like our own visits with the doctor, the advice we get may be hard to live with and a healthy lifestyle may require us to change what we do and how we do it. Our Lenten discipline should direct us along that course. Our prayer today is that we are faithful in following “Doctor’s Orders” and we again choose life.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used is “Visit of the Physician” by Gabriel Metsu, 1860-67
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[4] Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
[5] See NAB footnote on Matthew 9:9
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Isaiah 58:9b-14
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
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.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD's holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Is 58:9b-14
The Prophet continues exhorting the people to understand that God desires a spirit of compassion and generosity. He tells the people that if they follow this course they will be greatly rewarded and will receive rich blessings from God.
In the second paragraph Isaiah explains what it means to keep the Sabbath day holy. Again, following this command brings the faithful rich rewards from God.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:[4] Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (11ab) Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Psalm 86 is a lament. The psalmist sings of a life afflicted and asks God to give his servant relief. The song indicates the faithfulness of the singer, even in times of distress.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 5:27-32
After this he (Jesus) went out
and 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.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Luke 5:27-32
The story of the call of St. Matthew in Luke’s Gospel immediately follows Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees that culminated with the cure of the paralytic lowered through the roof. “A man named Matthew: Mark names this tax collector Levi (Mark 2:14). No such name appears in the four lists of the twelve who were the closest companions of Jesus (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13 [eleven, because of the defection of Judas Iscariot]), whereas all four list a Matthew, designated in Matthew 10:3 as "the tax collector." The evangelist may have changed the "Levi" of his source to Matthew so that this man, whose call is given special notice, like that of the first four disciples (Matthew 4:18-22), might be included among the twelve. Another reason for the change may be that the disciple Matthew was the source of traditions peculiar to the church for which the evangelist was writing”[5] .It is much more focused on the reaction of the Pharisees than the same story in Matthew (Matthew 9:9). The message, however, is clear. Jesus came so that we (who are all sinners) might understand that God’s love is for them as well.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.”
Jesus uses the analogy of healing to emphasize the impact faith has on the individual. The Pharisees, with whom Jesus is in tension, have seen a man who is clearly God. In the story just prior to the call of St. Matthew that is presented today, Jesus responded to their rhetorical question; “Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Jesus demonstrates to them that he is God by curing the paralytic who they see as being afflicted by God because of his sin.
These astounded Pharisees next see Jesus go to a tax collector “named Levi” (see the commentary above for the name change information). Tax collectors of the day were considered toadies of the Romans who extorted money from their own people. They were not welcome in polite company. Not only does Jesus address this outcast, he calls him to be one of his students – a disciple.
We can empathize with the Pharisees; they are desperately seeking the Messiah. They have seen this holy man from Galilee fulfilling all the predictions of the Prophets and performing miracles – they are almost certain he is the one but then he does not fit their expectation. Surely the Messiah would come in royal garb, with power and majesty. He would be an arch-type of the High Priest at the Temple in Jerusalem, only grander still. The Messiah would cause those who were steeped in sin to be punished; not call them as students or friends.
To their complaints Jesus tells them “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.” “What does that mean?” they must ask. They understand that Jesus sees the sin in this man. But the Messiah comes for them as well and they are not like this man, they have not sinned. His phrase is a statement of mission and an accusation of those who believe that their pious acts exempt them from God’s deeper law of love.
This same promise and diagnosis comes to us as the message embedded in the call of St. Matthew. Our Lenten call to conversion is intensified by our own need for the spiritual physician who is the Lord. We need to be healed and he has come to do so. But like our own visits with the doctor, the advice we get may be hard to live with and a healthy lifestyle may require us to change what we do and how we do it. Our Lenten discipline should direct us along that course. Our prayer today is that we are faithful in following “Doctor’s Orders” and we again choose life.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used is “Visit of the Physician” by Gabriel Metsu, 1860-67
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[4] Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
[5] See NAB footnote on Matthew 9:9
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