Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click HERE for the readings.
If we want to find where the sinners are, first find out where Jesus is.
Or, said another way, if we want to find where Jesus is, find out where the sinners are.
I know this can be disturbing, but we shouldn’t be too surprised. It disturbed the Pharisees greatly. They said to Jesus, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus responded, “I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”
I hope this Gospel helps to calm us who are sinners. Jesus is close to us. But remember, he is also asking us to repent, to do penance, and to avoid whatever leads us into sin. Only those who know that they are sick will seek out the physician. The Pharisees were as soul-sick, if not sicker, than the tax collectors and other sinners that Jesus was at the banquet with, but they just didn’t notice how sick they really were. What a shame.
In the coming weeks of Lent, the lines to our confessionals will be filled with sinners who know that their souls need the healing that only Jesus gives. And where will Jesus be? He will be present in our confessionals, as he always is, offering his forgiveness and his peace to each repentant sinner who has answered the call of Jesus, “follow me.”
Does it surprise us that the Church is filled with sinners? It shouldn’t. Where Jesus is, there will the sinners be, too.