January 17, 2026 -- Saturday of the 1st Week "B"
1 Samuel 9, 1-4. 17-19. 10,1; Mk 2, 13-17
H O M I L Y
This short Gospel has two distinct parts: first the vocation of Levi, and then the dinner in Levi's house.
The vocation follows the usual pattern of the vocations described in the Gospel. Jesus does not enter into a long conversation. He does not explain in detail what he proposes. He does not give time to think. He calls the person by his own name and then simply asks him to follow him. "Follow me". Those called are not called to do this or that, in such and such a situation. They are simply called to become Jesus' disciples. When we were baptized, and when we entered religious or monastic life, we were basically called to that, first of all: to follow Christ, wherever he will want to lead us.
And he calls whomever he wants, including tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors were assimilated to sinners. It seems that they were not paid for their work and had to make up their salary by collecting more than what was required. But that was not the reason why they were considered sinners. It is was because they were traitors to their people; they were collecting taxes from their own people for the Roman Empire who was an occupying force in Israel. (It would have been like an Indian collecting taxes from the Indians for the English Power, during the colonial time).
The surprising thing is that Levi, the tax collector, when he is called, simply gets up and follows Christ. No word of him is reported, neither any hesitation. First of all he invites Jesus to a great dinner at which come all his friends, other tax collectors and sinners. Even if his life has taken a completely new orientation, even if his values are no longer the same, Levi does not reject haughtily those who had been his companions and friends in the past. From now on something separates him from them, but they remain human beings, and most of all they remain his friends. By coming to that dinner, Jesus approves of that attitude; and, when he is himself reproached for doing so he answers that he has come not for the virtuous (or those who believe they are so) but for the sinners.
Let us be attentive to the separation we often make in our hearts or in our minds between ourselves and those whom we call sinners, as if we were not all sinners. Let us remember that the line of separation between good and evil does not pass between various groups of humanity, but at the center of the heart of each one of us. Jesus is not interested in having a private lunch with any of us. He sits at table with the community of sinners. Fortunately we belong to it. Let us not forget or deny it. We would be the losers.
And, by happy coincidence, we read these texts on the day we commemorate Anthony, one of the fathers of early Egyptian monasticism.
Armand Veilleux