Reflection for March 11, 2000: Saturday after Ash Wednesday.
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Authors
Lanahan, Joan
Issue Date
2000-03-11
Type
Essay
Language
en_US
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Alternative Title
Abstract
JESUS INTERRUPTS!||Who was Levi? He was an average person. He worked hard enough to have enemies and some friends. He probably had a family he loved. He liked to entertain friends.|His job??? Well, he was a tax collector, looked down upon by many citizens. Here he was doing his job and Jesus comes along and interrupts his life.|Have you ever received a grand gift and you want to share it with your friends? Levi wanted to share Jesus so he invited his friends, Jesus' friends, and others to a feast.|Jesus isn't the usual keynote speaker. He sits with the scum of the earth and calls them to a change of heart.|What does this look like? Isaiah speaks of it: "if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted..."|This is the opposite of what a good tax collector would be prone to do.|It means to get out of our stuck, sticky selfish ways, to reach out to others, to make time for others who reach out to us, to let others interrupt our lives - that phone call or person who walks in to ask for something, maybe just a listening ear. These people interrupt our lives, and often our precious schedules. They are "Jesus with skin on!"|And what do we get out of this? Isaiah says again: "Give unto others and the Lord will provide for you ...the Lord will renew your strength and you shall be like a spring whose water never fails."|God promises us that we will receive grace to be virtuous and loving, a person for others, when we LIVE as a PERSON FOR OTHERS.
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Citation
Publisher
University Ministry, Creighton University.
License
These reflections may not be sold or used commercially without permission. Personal or parish use is permitted.