Lord, help me to repent and to live in right relationship with You

Saturday 20th February 2021
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Is. 58:9b-14; Ps. 85:1-2,3-4,5-6;
Lk. 5:27-32 (Ps Wk IV)

Isaiah was sharing the Lord's message with the people. God would restore the people if they followed his conditions. It was a call to repentance and a promise of restoration. The people were to be righteous — not to judge others, feed the hungry, help the afflicted, honour the sabbath, and take delight in the Lord.

These would be the signs that the people were following the desires of the Lord for God’s people. The restoration of the people was assured if they followed the precepts of the Lord.

Tax collectors worked for the Roman government and were despised by the Jews as they felt that the Romans were exploiting them. Yet Jesus asked Levi, the tax collector, to follow him.

Levi immediately followed Jesus and gave a banquet for him at his house.

The scribes and Pharisees were puzzled that Jesus would eat with this crowd of sinners. These people were not what they would consider pure. But Jesus stated his mission to them: Jesus had come to call the sinners to him so that they could repent and live a righteous life. No one was excluded. Such a life is possible for everyone with Jesus.

Lord, help me to repent and to live in right relationship with You.