Hated and Loved

c/o walkwitheu.blogspot.com

(Lk 5: 27-32)

Have you ever experienced being hated by someone? It must be like the end of the world, or an old building being taken down by dynamite or TNT. And why not since being hated is not in our nature, or is it?

Today’s Gospel speak of Levi (or Matthew), a tax-collector by profession, Palestinian by nationality, and Jewish by religion. He was a tax-collector for the government of Rome. He was hated for his profession and for his submission.

Tax evasion is one of the root causes of graft and corruption and eventually the fall of one nation’s or a group’s economy. The problem today is not that tax-collectors are charging beyond what the law requires but tax-payers are not paying their taxes. In Jesus’ time, it is the contrary.

The tax-collectors are hated for being greedy by imposing all kinds of duties in order to collect money. They seem to be generous by lending money to those who cannot pay but only to demand an exuberant rate of interest in return. It is no wonder why tax-collectors are categorized with robbers and murderers. For that, they were barred from the Synagogue.

It must have been a very sad state of life being a tax-collector, less friends and a cemented social lifestyle. Worse, hated and condemned.

Yet, Jesus called the hated, the one considered dirty, the one people condemned.

It is no accidental that the Scribes and Pharisees were there to witness this bewildering act of justice and love. Their objection only highlighted and heightened Jesus’ Gospel, and in His answer we heard: “those who are healthy have no need of a doctor but those who are ill have. I did not come to invite the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

c/o news.nationalgeographic.com

Was Jesus referring to the Scribes and Pharisees as healthy and righteous? Absolutely not. The only difference they’ve got with tax-collectors is their religious garb. They are even worse, because of their hardened heart and the dirt of their unbelief. They refused to be cleansed.

Only Jesus can truly cleanse the hated part in our humanity. And only Jesus can love us, dirty as we are.