Радио ВЕРА - Евангелие от Марка, Глава 2, стихи 14-17. - текст песни, слова, перевод, видео

Gospel of Mark, Chapter 2, verses 14-17.

14 As He passed by, He saw Levi Alphaeus sitting at the toll booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he got up and followed Him.

15 And as Jesus reclined in his house, his disciples reclined with him, and many publicans and sinners: for they were many, and they followed him.

16 When the scribes and Pharisees saw that He was eating with publicans and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with publicans and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Hieromonk Theoktist (Igumnov) comments

Levi, the son of Alpheus, known to us under the name of the apostle-evangelist Matthew, was one of those people who not only worked closely with the occupying Roman authorities, but also had their income from the difference between what they took from people as taxes and what they gave to their superiors. And since the amount of the tax was not strictly defined, a wide field for fraud and abuse opened up for tax collectors. And if, according to the Old Testament, even the one who withheld part of the wages of his workers was subject to punishment, then the one who lived off what was taken from his fellow citizens, under the pretext of paying taxes, was no different, from a moral point of view, from an ordinary thief. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the general popular contempt for such people. After all, they didn’t just steal, but they stole cynically, knowing full well that the Roman authorities would protect them in the event of any dangerous situation.

And we, in turn, understand perfectly well that secret theft is one thing, and theft not covered up by any social conventions is quite another. Theft goes unpunished. We understand that cynicism is terrible. But today’s Gospel passage brings to us one important truth - no matter how cynical a thief a person is, he is not deprived of salvation. Yes. It is almost impossible to correct such a person by human effort, but the words of God can penetrate through any wall. God's love does not have the same limitations as human love. And as Christ Himself says, it was for the sake of such people that He became incarnate. The love of God is capable of turning the cynical tax collector Levi, the evangelist Matthew, is capable of calling any person and changing him beyond recognition. We understand this very well, but, unfortunately, we often understand it in isolation from our reality and from those people whom we see in front of us and whom we consider inveterate sinners and cynical criminals. When we have before us the completed biography of Levi Matthew, his life path seems quite natural to us. Just like the life path of Mary of Egypt, and all those saints whose lives were not always righteous and holy. But the complete biography of our living contemporaries is hidden from us. We can only see part of it. And in this part their crimes and moral imperfections are especially striking. And it is not given to us to know whether among them there is a person like Levi, capable of irrevocably giving up a comfortable lifestyle, defeating his cynicism and following Christ the Savior.

Let us always try to keep in mind the amazing transformation of people under the influence of God’s love and be extremely careful in rendering our verdict to the people around us.