Jesus 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.”
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Since, in Jesus’ time, Israel was under the Roman power, Caesar and his “family” (agents, political kins) had an interest in everything. Caesar’s estates were overseen by the Roman prefects of Judea. The Roman emperor was the main beneficiary of the taxes as well as tribute from the local rulers – the Herodian kings (ethnarchs). The ruling elites like the Herodians controlled agricultural production and commerce through the services of “brokers” (Greek telonai, commonly translated as “publicans” or “tax collectors”) who bought rights to collect taxes and recovered their capital by exacting taxes directly from the people. One such person is Levi who is called by Jesus while sitting at the customs post. John the Baptist had told the tax collectors, “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed” (Lk 3:13), the practice that accounts for the hostility of the general population towards the tax collectors whom they branded as “sinners.” Since Jesus attended the banquet prepared by Levi to which other tax collectors are also invited, the Pharisees and the scribes believe that Jesus is compromising his position as a teacher (let alone as the Messiah). Precisely because he is a “physician,” Jesus attends to the sick: sinners who are despised and avoided.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2021,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
