16 January 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
Hebrews offers two images side by side. First, the word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword”: it reaches the hidden places of the heart and lays everything bare. That could frighten us. But immediately comes the second image: “we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness.” The word that sees everything leads us to the mercy that forgives everything.
Mark shows this in action. Jesus sees Levi sitting at the tax booth, a collaborator despised by his people, and says: “Follow me.” Levi gets up and follows, and soon Jesus is eating at his table with “many tax collectors and sinners”. The Pharisees are shocked. Jesus answers: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” The Church is first a hospital for sinners, and every one of us is a patient called to follow.
Theme: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
The word that searches the heart and the mercy that welcomes the sinner.
“Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29
“Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
Apply: Pray with today's Gospel for ten minutes.
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
“When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”” Mark 2:17
Apply: Welcome someone others avoid.
“As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.” Psalm 103:13
“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
Apply: Go to confession with confidence.
The word shows our sickness; the Physician heals it.
Come boldly: the throne is a throne of grace.
Take-home resolution: Read one Gospel passage each day and let it search your heart.
Dear friends, Hebrews gives us a strong image: the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). God's word sees us as we are.
That could frighten us. But Hebrews continues: we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness (Hebrews 4:15–16).
In the Gospel Jesus sees Levi at the tax booth. Tax collectors worked for the Romans and were often dishonest. People despised them. Jesus simply says: follow me. And Levi gets up and follows.
Then Jesus eats at Levi's house with many tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees complain. Jesus says: those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners (Mark 2:17).
The Church is a hospital for sinners. Let God's word show us our sickness, and let us come boldly to the throne of grace for healing. On this Saturday let us also ask Mary, Refuge of sinners, to bring us to her Son. Amen.
Children, Jesus called Levi, whom nobody liked, to be his friend. Jesus loves everyone. Let us be friends with someone who has no friends.
Lord Jesus, your word is living and sees my heart, and you are a high priest who understands my weakness. Call me again as you called Levi, heal me as the doctor of sinners, and let me approach your throne of grace with confidence. Amen.
Hebrews today shows us two things about God’s nearness. His word is sharp enough to lay the heart bare, and our high priest is gentle enough to understand what he finds there. Mark shows the same pair in action: Jesus looks at a tax collector at his booth, sees everything, and says, “Follow me.” He then sits down at table with people others avoided. The word that exposes us is spoken by the one who calls us. The key words are word, mercy and call.
Setting.
The preacher has just urged his hearers not to harden their hearts when they hear God’s voice “today”. Verses 12–13 explain why this matters: God’s word is not a dead record of what happened in the desert. It speaks now, and nothing can hide from it. Then at v. 14 the letter turns to its great theme, the priesthood of Christ, which will fill the chapters ahead.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (4:12)
The Second Vatican Council cites this verse in its teaching on Scripture in the life of the Church: the word of God is the strength of the Church’s faith and food for the soul (Dei Verbum 21). When we read Scripture, it also reads us.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.” (4:15)
Two negatives make the point gently: it is not that he cannot understand. “Without sin” does not make him less able to sympathize. Someone who never gives in to a temptation feels its full force. The Council of Chalcedon drew on this verse: like us in all things but sin (CCC 467).
“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (4:16)
Many commentators hear in “throne of grace” an echo of the mercy seat over the ark, where the high priest brought the blood once a year. What only one man could approach, on one day, all the faithful are now told to approach, in every time of need.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism applies v. 15 to the temptations of Jesus in the desert: he conquered the tempter for us (CCC 540). It also quotes the Council on the power of Scripture: the force and power in the word of God is so great that it stands as the support and energy of the Church (CCC 131; Dei Verbum 21). Before the “throne of grace” the Church brings every kind of need at the Mass, in the Prayer of the Faithful.
Setting.
Capernaum lay near the border between the territories of Herod Antipas and his brother Philip, on a trade road, and so a toll post there makes good sense. A toll collector such as Levi worked for those who held the contract, under the authority of Herod. Collectors were known for overcharging, and they dealt constantly with Gentiles and with their money. Many devout people therefore kept apart from them.
Mark calls this man Levi son of Alphaeus. Matthew’s Gospel tells the same story of a man named Matthew (Matthew 9:9), and the Church has traditionally understood them to be one person.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.”” (2:14)
There is no test, no promise from Levi, no mention of repentance beforehand. The gaze and the word come first, and the change follows. St Bede says in a homily that Jesus saw the tax collector with a look of mercy and of choosing, miserando atque eligendo. Pope Francis took those words as his motto (Misericordiae Vultus 8).
““Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”” (2:16)
In that culture to share a table meant to share life and to accept one another. The Pharisees’ question came from a real concern for holiness. They wanted all of life to be lived in purity before God. The question is what holiness does when it meets a sinner.
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (2:17)
This is a proverb, and then a statement of why he has come. There is some irony in the word “righteous”. Jesus is not saying that some people have no need of him. He is saying that nobody can receive a physician without admitting to being ill.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus invites sinners to the table of the Kingdom (CCC 545), and that receiving them at his table expresses in an astonishing way both God’s forgiveness and their return to the People of God (CCC 1443). It also notes that this conduct scandalized some Pharisees (CCC 588). Before Communion the Church invites us to the supper of the Lamb, and we answer that we are not worthy.
Does Jesus’ eating with sinners mean that sin does not matter?
No. He calls sinners the sick, and a physician does not treat illness as if it were nothing. Levi gets up and follows, and his life changes. Mercy comes first, and it leads to conversion (compare Mark 1:15; CCC 1427–1428).