Great Lent Devotions by Rev. Fr. Mathew (Matt) Alexander (Dallas) : Week Three Gospel & Devotionals
Third Monday of the Great Lent
Mark 2:13-22 Matthew The Tax Collector
13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
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Much tea has been spilt over taxes. Tax collectors have generally not been very well liked throughout history. Especially in Roman times, tax collectors were seen as traitors, who profited off of others hard work. A tax collector was expected to gather taxes from the people on behalf of the government and was allowed to keep any extra. And with that kind of incentive, there was usually quite a lot that came in as extra. I can understand why they weren't winning any popularity contests.
I doubt many people enthusiastically went to the tax office in those times. I wonder what it was like that day when Levi was sitting there in his office and Jesus was passing by. Jesus just said two words: "Follow Me." What compelled Levi to get up and go? Was it curiosity? Did he look at his desk and all his records and think, What am I doing? Is this what life is about? or maybe a simple... What do I have to lose?
Why did Jesus choose him? There were multitudes who were following after Jesus and listening to his words. But, here Jesus sought out Levi and called him. Others seeing Jesus associating with Levi, were offended that Jesus would dine with tax collectors and sinners. But the observers had it wrong. They were focused on the sins and upset about Jesus associating with that. What they should have focused on is that the sinner was associating with Jesus. This would have led them to rejoice at his repentance.
We should never write somebody off. We should never count someone out. We should never consider someone hopeless. God still believes in them. Because, in reality, all of us are ill, all of us need a physician. None of us are righteous. We are all sinners. God hasn't written you are me off either.
I don't know what happened in that moment, but it was definitely life changing for Levi. He would leave behind his former life, even take a new name, Matthew, become a disciple, then an apostle, then an evangelist, a Gospel writer, and finally a martyr. It all just started with two words, "Follow Me."
Third Tuesday of the Great Lent
Mark 4:1-20 The Parable of the Sower
1 And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2 Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:
3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7 And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8 But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
9 And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
10 But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11 And He said to them, “To you, it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12 so that
‘ Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
The Parable of the Sower Explained
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
14 The sower sows the word.
And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
16 These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17 and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
18 Now, these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,
19 and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”
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Today's gospel reading is a bit long. When presented with longer readings like this, our mind has a tendency to skim over the reading or skip to parts that we may find relevant. Sometimes it's hard to focus when sitting down to read scripture, because of noise, stress, distractions. Though we are reading, our mind is elsewhere. It's hard to be present in the moment, and immerse ourselves in the words. Sometimes we have to stop, reread the passage slowly several times to get beyond the surface level.
We believe the Scriptures to be living, because when we read them the Holy Spirit works within us. But, these words that we read from Scripture have to penetrate our soul. They can’t just be mere stories that sit lifelessly on the roadway as bird food. If we want to grow, we have to place these Scriptures deep into our heart, in a place where it can grow.
There might be distractions all around you, whether in noise, or stress, or temptation, but those things need to be cleared away so that the living word of God can grow in you. None of this can be theoretical, it has to be experienced. It’s not enough for a seed to know what water is, but it has to be immersed in the water, just as much as we need to immerse ourselves in prayer, know mercy, and taste the Holy Qurbana. Jesus said, “He who HAS ears, let him hear.” It's hard to listen when we are distracted. But if we dig, there is joy in the discovery. Maybe take a minute and reread today's scripture passage and find what the Holy Spirit is teaching you.
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If there only existed a single sense for the words of Scripture, then the first commentator who came along would discover it, and other hearers would experience neither the labor of searching, nor the joy of discovery. Rather, each word of our Lord has its own form and each form has its own members, and each member has its own character. And each individual person understands according to his capacity, and he interprets the passage as is granted to him.
-St Ephrem, Commentary on the Diatessaron 7:22
Third Wednesday of the Great Lent
Luke 12:32-40
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant 35 “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 36 and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 37 Blessedare those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 38 And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.40 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
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Which do you value more, what people think of you, or the people you love? Then why do you lash out at your kids/your parents when they embarrass you.
What do you value more, honesty/integrity or success and money? Then why do you cheat, manipulate, bend the rules at work and school?
Which do you value more, power/control or love/humility? Then why is your marriage/family/community about winning battles and not submitting to one another in love.
Which do you value more, material things/pleasures or The Kingdom.
The Lord tells us to "sell what you have and give alms." It's such an interesting way to word this. There ought to be sacrificed in our giving. We give up something so that someone else may have something.
We understand our priorities when two values are in conflict and we choose one over the other. It's not about proving to God or earning the Kingdom. It's about desire and wanting it. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom." The Lord desires to give the Kingdom to us, it's just a matter of whether we are willing to receive it. Will we drop the treasure in our hands to reach for the treasure coming from above?
You get what you want out of life. If you want success, pride, esteem, power, control, worldly pleasures, and material things, you will probably get them but in the process lose your soul. If you want to be in the Lord's presence, you'll sacrifice the things that are holding you back from experiencing it. You'll have your 'waist girded, your lamps burning' saying "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done." And the Lord will be saying "Blessed are those servants..."
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