God's Call

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Friday of 13th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, July 2nd, 2021
Texts: Gen. 23:1-4.19; 24:1-8.62-67; 106:1-5; Mtt. 9:9-13
No one is qualified for God's call; it is God who qualified us. He called us when we were in bad state and unable to help ourselves. This accounts for the complaint of the pharisees when Jesus called Matthew in today's gospel reading. It is said, "And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'” The pharisees recognised the unworthiness of Matthew and other collectors and sinners. Jesus called us and cleaned us up. Our unworthiness for Jesus is a beacon of need; it is a call for help rather than an abandonment. Hence, He says,  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." God comes to our help when we are weak and unable to help ourselves. God is near most when we are weak, distressed and troubled. God always gives us a helping hand but we have to step forward out of our sins to grasp His helping hand.
It is mercy that can make us to recognise that the sick need to be helped. It is mercy that can make us rescue a man from the condition he deserves. We deserve our state of helplessness because of our sins, but God called us to follow Him out of His mercy. Hence, Jesus says, "Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” We need mercy not to act like the pharisees and to act like Jesus. Put differently, we need mercy to follow Jesus Christ.
The first reading reminds us that when we are called there is no turning back. Abraham insisted that his son, Isaac, should not be taken back to his father's homeland, no matter what. He agreed that Isaac rather married a foreign woman instead of going back to his father's homeland; he must continue to live in the land of promise. When we are called God's heritage becomes our lot. It is possible that along the journey we are overcome by our weakness, and dread falls upon us, and we feel we might ruin things for ourselves, for our families and for God. At this time we should stop looking at ourselves but look up to God, with whom nothing is impossible. When we look up to God, we will know that His grace is sufficient. Abraham said to his servant thus:  “See to it that you do not take my son back there. The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your descendants I will give this land, ’he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there." Let us always look up to God who called; He will always qualify us, He will always make us worthy.
Many a time we feel that what our faith demands from us is so great; we feel that the faith demands what is beyond our strength. We are not going to live the life by our power and strength but by the grace of God, in whom we put our faith. We should not always count on ourselves but God. When we move close to Him, He will give the power and supply the strength to live the faith; His grace is always sufficient.

God our Father, thank You for calling us to be Your Children in Christ, help us to know that only with You can we live the life worthy of our call and grant that we may always count on You, not ourselves. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke