The Messiah came to call sinners not to condone...

The Messiah came to call sinners not to condone...

One day when Pope John XXIII was a bishop of Venice, he was told that one of his priests was becoming an alcoholic, ‘We’ll have to go and visit him,” he told his secretary. When they got near the presbytery of the priest’s parish, the bishop and his secretary stopped at a hotel and the future Pope John sent his secretary off to get the priest. The secretary came back and said, “His hat is lying on table but he isn’t there.” To which the future Pope answered, “If his hat is there, he must also be there. Go and look again.”

 

A few minutes later the secretary came back. He had found the priest at the local pub. All three of them walked over the presbytery. There the bishop offered the priest a chair and said to him, “Sit down brother. I want you to hear my confession,” (Willi Hoffsuemmer).

 

Just like the understanding bishop in the story, Jesus in the gospel does not cover up the tax collector’s situation. He shows His critics that as the Messiah, he has come to call sinners like them, not to condone their sinful acts but correct them. Jesus, as Divine Physician, associates with the spiritually sick to invite them to repentance.

Can we do the same as Jesus did?