Jesus lovingly seeks us sinners out, to offer us freedom from the bondages of sin and an opportunity to walk in His light. And the only response He requires from us is to follow Him; not simply in word but in action. That is to follow Him as His disciple so as to lead others to Him by our example.
How can we ask anyone to follow us if we lead lives of duality even duplicity?
We wear our Christian ‘hat’ in church and take it off to wear another outside of church. We lead double lives one for our church friends to see while another is seen by family and friends. We might again exhibit another different behaviour when it comes to strangers. We tend to forget that the Lord our God sees and knows everything! “No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.”
Let us simply be identified as a child of God so loved by our Heavenly Father to one and all. That we who are so loved by Him have been inserted into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ by Baptism. We are therefore His One Body, His disciples on mission to make disciples of all nations. And such we are always confident in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace when we are in need of help. Amen. Allelulia!
First reading
Hebrews 4:12-16
Let us be confident in approaching the throne of grace
The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts like any double-edged sword but more finely: it can slip through the place where the soul is divided from the spirit, or joints from the marrow; it can judge the secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing can hide from him; everything is uncovered and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give account of ourselves.
Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who has gone through to the highest heaven, we must never let go of the faith that we have professed. For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us; but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are, though he is without sin. Let us be confident, then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from him and find grace when we are in need of help.
Gospel
Mark 2:13-17
Your light must shine in the sight of men
Jesus went out to the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them. As he was walking on he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus, sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
When Jesus was at dinner in his house, a number of tax collectors and sinners were also sitting at the table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of them among his followers. When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this he said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’
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