Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 7, 2023
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Matthew 9:9-13
Jesus was criticized for the people he hung around with. In today’s reading we see Jesus reaching out to Matthew–a tax collector, a collaborator with the Romans, probably also an extortionist. If this were not enough, Jesus takes dinner with other unacceptable, ritually impure people–camel drivers and sailors and shopkeepers–people that self-respecting Jews didn’t want to have anything to do with.
Jesus’ opponents ask how he can justify that kind of behavior. He answers that it is precisely those kinds of people that he has come to be with. They are the ones that God has sent him to save.
Jesus is still interested in those who are on the margins–who need attention and healing. That’s why he bothers with us.
