The Company Jesus Keeps

Homily for Saturday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time

The issue of being comfortable with the Word of God is raised again today. However, this time it is much more graphic in its expectations.

One of the things that we hear said from time to time is “You are known by the company you keep.” If we apply that yardstick to Jesus, we would have to admit that he doesn’t keep the best company. While we have come to regard the scribes who criticize Jesus in this passage as hard-hearted and merciless, we tend to think in these terms as well. We are not comfortable with people who keep company with known sinners.

However, Jesus has a purpose is associating with these unsavory people. He seems to be perfectly at ease in their company even though his association with them is making others uncomfortable. In yesterday’s Gospel, these same scribes had criticized Jesus in their thoughts. Today they verbalize their thoughts to his disciples. St. Mark is showing us how the treachery of the Pharisees and scribes began to grow even this early in the public ministry of Jesus.

The sacred writer of the Letter to the Hebrews makes the point that our high priest, Jesus, is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, because he has been tested in every way, yet without sin. He goes on to say that because of this we should confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help. Today’s Gospel episode simply puts flesh on these words. If Jesus has demonstrated his concern for tax collectors and sinners in his own time, we can be sure that he will forgive us as well.

All of us needs this kind of help. We are all sinners. We may not be the kind of sinners that make other people uncomfortable, but I daresay we are all uncomfortable is confessing our sins. Our inability to forgive, so keenly demonstrated in today’s Gospel, makes it difficult for us to forgive ourselves, to realize our worth. We are the very reason that Jesus came among us. He came for us sinners.