Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy tuần thứ Nhất Thường Niên

 Suy Niệm Tin Mừng thứ Bẩy tuần thứ Nhất Thường Niên 

Trong bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, chúng ta thấy Chúa Giêsu chủ động trong việc tìm kiếm và kêu gọi những người mà Ngài muốn đi theo Ngài và sẽ là những Tông Đồ nhiệt thành của Ngài. Ông Matthêu đang ngồi tại bàn thâu thuề, đang làm công việc thâu thuế, công việc của người luôn tìm cách bóc lột dân chúng để làm giàu trên xương máu của người khác. Vì đó là nghề của người thâu thuế của thời ấy, họ ăn phần trăm trên số tiền họ thâu được cho người Roma. Ông Matthêu chắc chắn đã không bao giờ nghĩ đến việc tìm đến Chúa Giêsu hay nghĩ tới vấn đề bỏ nghề đang kiếm nhiều tiên, đang giàu có mà di theo Chúa.Giêsu.
Việc Chúa làm, không ai có thể ngờ được, Chúa Giêsu đã âm thầm vào cuộc sống của ông và làm thay đổi cuộc sống của ông ta hoàn toàn. Ông Matthêu đã không chạy đến với Chúa Giêsu để xin xỏ bất cứ điều gì, vì ông nghĩ ông có tiền và ông có tất cả. Tuy nhiên, khi Chúa Giêsu gọi, ông đã ngay lập tức đứng dậy, bỏ lại tất cả mọi thứ, hồ sơ thuế vụ, sổ sách mà theo Chúa, Matthêu đã không một lời thắc mắc hay trả giá với Chúa : “nếu tôi theo Chúa thì tôi được gì?”. Ông chấp nhận lời mời gọi của Chúa Kitô để tham gia vào đời sống và sứ vụ của mình, mà điều này có nghĩa là ông sẵn sàng chấp nhận những thay đổi sẽ đến trong cuộc sống riêng của ông. Sau khi nhận được ơn gọi, ông đã bắt đầu công việc của mình là đã mời bạn bè đến nhà mình để họ có thể gặp Chúa Giêsu. Matthêu đã không ích kỷ để giữ Chúa Giêsu lại cho chính mình. Ông đã tích cực truyền bá tình bạn và tình yêu mà ông dành cho Chúa Giêsu với những người khác. Ông ta muốn họ cùng được làm bạn với Chúa như ông ta.
Chúa Giêsu muốn cứu tất cả mọi người, nhưng Ngài phụ thuộc vào những nỗ lực của chúng ta để chia sẻ đức tin của chúng ta với những người khác. Chúa Giêsu không bao giờ quay lưng lại với bất cứ người nào. Ngài không bao giờ biếr ngại ngùng để được liên kết với những người tội lỗi. Đây là tin mừng về sự cứu rỗi. Chúng ta biết rằng chúng ta cần phải chia sẻ Tình yê của Chúa Giêsu với những người khác. Một cách để làm được điều đó là chúng ta phải biết làm gương sáng, như là một ví dụ điển hình trong cách chúng ta sống và giao tiếp với người khác mỗi ngày. Trước tiên chúng ta nên làm chứng cho Chúa Kitô bằng cuộc sống của chúng ta và sau đó không ngại nói về Chúa Giêsu và những gì Ngài đã làm trong cuộc sống của chúng ta. Chúng ta cần phải nhớ đến số người đang bị mất niềm tin, đau khổ và trôi dạt trong thế giới này. Chúng ta nên làm gì cho họ?

REFLECTION
In today's Gospel, we see Jesus taking the initiative of finding and calling the men whom he wanted to follow him. Matthew was sitting at his table doing his work. He was not looking for a vocation. He certainly did not ask Jesus to come. Jesus simply walked into his life and turned his life upside down. Matthew did not ask to be called. However, when Jesus called, he got up immediately to follow him. Matthew did not argue with the call or fight it. He accepted Christ's invitation to participate in his life and mission, and he accepted the changes that this meant. After his call, Matthew got to work. He invited friends over to his house so that they could meet Jesus.
Matthew does not keep Jesus to himself. He actively spread his friendship and love for Jesus with others. He wanted them to enter into the friendship that he had entered. Jesus wants to save all people but he depends on our efforts to share him with others. Jesus turns no one away. He is not afraid to be associated with sinners. This is the good news of salvation.
We know that we need to share Jesus with others. One way to do so is to set a good example by the way we live our lives and communicate with others. We should first witness to Christ with our lives and then not be afraid to speak of Jesus and what he has done in our lives. We need to remember the number of people who are spiritually lost and adrift in this world. What are we doing for them?

Opening Prayer:
Call me, Lord. Heal me, for I need you. Do not simply walk along the shore of my life, but enter into my home and into my heart.
Encountering Christ:
1. The Shore: “Once again” Jesus walked along the sea. The crowds that came to him received teaching, healing, and often a call to mission. So often we can be stuck, sitting still, lost in the world of our own problems. But Christ is never still. He is always coming toward us, seeking us out. Yet, he doesn’t impose himself. He walks along the shore of our life awaiting an invitation from each of us. He wants to bring us wisdom, healing, and a sense of mission and purpose.
2. Follow Me: Levi, also known as Matthew, was considered a “public sinner” because he collected taxes for the Romans, who ruled over the Jewish people. A famous painting, The Call of St. Matthew by Caravaggio, has St. Matthew pointing at himself as if he is saying, “Who, me?” Sometimes we wonder when we see a problem, “Why does no one do anything about this?” or “Someone should say something.” Today’s Gospel is an invitation to ask ourselves, “Who, me?” Christ often calls us to say or do something, but we defer or reject the call because we feel unqualified. Levi was a public sinner, yet he became a great saint. When we feel compelled by the Spirit to act, we trust in the fact that God always equips the called.
3. “I Came to Call Sinners”: St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians speaks of this mystery of Christian life: “God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). When God called us to be his apostles, he didn’t just ask us to give him our strengths and talents, but also our weakness and brokenness. He is the Divine Physician. “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Jesus wants us to serve him with all that we are and have, both the good and the bad, through our weakness and our strength.
Conversing with Christ: 

Dear Jesus, I ask that today you take all that I am and all that I have. Come more deeply into my life. I don’t want to leave you standing on the outskirts. I want you to enter into my heart. Come, use my weaknesses and brokenness to do great things in me. I believe that with you I can do all things. Be with me today Lord, and let me follow you.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will strive to listen attentively and respond promptly to what you ask. 

Meditation: "Many sinners were sitting with Jesus"
What draws us to the throne of God's mercy and grace? Mark tells us that many people were drawn to Jesus, including the unwanted and the unlovable, such as the lame, the blind, and the lepers, as well as the homeless such as widows and orphans. But public sinners, like the town prostitutes and corrupt tax collectors, were also drawn to Jesus. In calling Levi, who was also named Matthew (see Matthew 9:9) to be one of his disciples, Jesus picked one of the unlikeliest of men - a tax collector who by profession was despised by the people.
Why did the religious leaders find fault with Jesus for making friends with sinners and tax collectors like Levi? The orthodox Jews had a habit of dividing everyone into two groups - those who rigidly kept the law of Moses and its minute regulations and those who did not. They latter were treated like second class citizens. The orthodox scrupulously avoided their company, refused to do business with them, refused to give or receive anything from them, refused to intermarry, and avoided any form of entertainment with them, including table fellowship. Jesus' association with sinners shocked the sensibilities of these orthodox Jews.
When the Pharisees challenged his unorthodox behavior in eating with public sinners, Jesus' defense was quite simple. A doctor doesn't need to visit healthy people; instead he goes to those who are sick. Jesus likewise sought out those in the greatest need. A true physician seeks healing of the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. Jesus came as the divine physician and good shepherd to care for his people and to restore them to wholeness of life.The orthodox Jews were so preoccupied with their own practice of religion that they neglected to help the very people who needed care. Their religion was selfish because they didn't want to have anything to do with people not like themselves.
Jesus stated his mission in unequivocal terms: I came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners. Ironically the orthodox were as needy as those they despised. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The Lord fills us with his grace and mercy. And he wants us, in turn, to seek the good of our neighbors, including the unlikeable and the trouble-maker by showing them the same kindness and mercy which we have received. Do you thank the Lord for the great kindness and mercy he has shown to you?
"Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you: Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love. Our hearts are sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood. Our hearts are weak; strengthen them with your joyous Spirit. Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine presence. Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for yourself." (Prayer of Augustine, 4th century)