By William Selvaraj csc –
Readings: 1Sam 9: 1-4, 17-19, 10: 1a; Mk 2: 13-17
Life becomes a celebration when one follows Jesus freely and joyfully and makes the values of Jesus one’s own. Pharisees considered Levi as a sinner because of his profession. But Jesus does not hate Levi, rather makes him his disciple.
In our society, we see the qualifications of the person and recruit them to a company. But Jesus is a totally different person who calls and qualifies the called. Often, we tend to look down on people who are not up to our expectations or want them to behave the way we like.
By doing this, we automatically judge people by their external appearance. Our criteria of judgment rely upon mere external appearances and what is obvious to our eyes. However, God looks into the heart of the humans. Jesus is the greatest example who follows the quote “Don’t judge the book by its cover.”
We look at the external appearance of a person, but Jesus looks at the inner world of a person. Jesus invites us to participate in his mission of spreading the kingdom of God and tells us to never judge others based on their color, caste, race, religion, and language.
In the kingdom of God, everyone is equal, because we are created in the same image and likeness of God. Jesus mingled with the outcastes, marginalized, and downtrodden of the society. It is high time we introspect and ask ourselves, are we mingling with the marginalized or pushing them to the periphery of our society?
Let us imitate our Lord Jesus in accepting others as they are and showing them due respect and dignity in our lives.