While
he was at table in [Matthew’s] house,
many
tax collectors and sinners came
and
sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The
Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,
“Why
does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
He
heard this and said,
“Those
who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go
and learn the meaning of the words,
I
desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I
did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Matthew
9:9-13
Theologians
often cite Jesus’s “preferential option for the poor” – a theme of preference
being given to the poor and downtrodden over the rich and powerful. It
is more accurate, however, to include the sinner as receiving preference over
the righteous as well. Time and again, it is the one who acted
immorally who gets at least equal, if not more, attention: the
vineyard workers, the Prodigal Son, the lost sheep.
Faith
is not about understanding the moral code God expects us to follow. It
is about the moral code God follows – and how different it is from our own.
Photo: Stained Glass, St. Jerome Roman Catholic Church, Norwalk, Connecticut
