Today's Gospel

Know Your Need

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus. Today's reading comes from Matthew 9:9-13. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, "Follow me," and he rose and followed him. And as he set a table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when Jesus heard it, He said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous but sinners."

What jumps out at you? We should take great comfort in this reading. We should take comfort in this reading because of all our imperfections or all our faults, all our failings, Jesus is saying, "I came for you. You're the ones I came for, not the ones pretending to be perfect, not the ones who pretending to be righteous, just not the ones who pretending, but I came for you. You're the ones who need me and know you need me." And that is fundamentally the difference between the tax collectors, the sinners, and the scribes, the Pharisees, and self-appointed, righteous ones. Fundamental difference is that there really is no difference between them, just that one group is aware of their need for God, their need for Jesus, and the other is unaware of their need for God and need for Jesus.

And so maybe today we reflect on our need for God. If we were not held constantly in the mind of God, constantly, if we were not held in the mind of God for one second, you'd just disappear. Our need for God is ever-present, is constant, but maybe we take it for granted sometimes. Have an amazing day. Remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.