Main news for 14 January 2026

The traditional Yahwist, and later Jewish, understanding of sin and its consequences was fairly strict, even severe. One could be cleansed only from a sin committed unintentionally - from weakness, for example, from ignorance or carelessness. Cleansing was not identical with repentance. Repentance meant that a person recognized sin as such, precisely as sin, turned to God, felt remorse, and inwardly renounced what had been done. It was understood that God in any case forgives the one who sincerely repents, but forgiveness did not yet mean cleansing. Cleansing meant the possibility of being freed from the consequences of the sin that had been committed. If no cleansing took place, those consequences continued to weigh on a person, hindering normal communion with God and depriving the person of the prospect of entering the Kingdom of the Messiah, or, as it was also called in those days, the Kingdom of the age to come.

Such strictness was not, of course, the result of some special vindictiveness or formalism among believers. It only reflected the realities of the fallen world with the overpowering rule of evil and sin. Once a person had voluntarily handed himself over to the power of sin, he later found himself powerless before it; he could no longer break free from that power. Tax collectors, that is, collectors of tribute who worked for the Roman administration, were considered precisely voluntary sinners. No one had forced them to do what they were doing, and from the very beginning they knew what they were undertaking. They also knew that there would be no road back for them, since it was impossible to be cleansed from the consequences of a consciously committed sin.

One can imagine what these people must have felt when they learned that they too had the possibility of becoming part of the people of God again, of being cleansed and receiving a chance to begin everything with a clean slate. Many of them had no doubt later repented and regretted the choice they had once made, but there was nowhere for them to go. And then suddenly there appears the One who promises the possibility of what had previously been impossible. No wonder the tax collectors and others of the same sort, people who had once consciously sinned and had now repented, follow Jesus: He is their only hope.

For the devout Pharisees, however, proud of their religious purity, this turn of events is more a cause for irritation than for joy. What meaning do all their efforts to keep themselves pure have now, if those who did nothing of the kind are being given the same possibilities they have? The first reaction of religious consciousness to this situation is: we tried in vain; all our efforts have turned out to be useless.

Jesus speaks directly: He came to call to repentance those to whom it had previously been closed, real sinners and not formally righteous people. What matters to Him is to save everyone who can be saved, not to flatter the religious vanity of those who take pride in their imagined righteousness.

Today's reading is a short but rich description of Jesus' preaching in His native Galilee, where He, as is clear, often preached not only in houses and synagogues, but also in the open air (v. 13; by "sea" here is meant not the Mediterranean Sea, but Lake Gennesaret). People whose reputation in the society of believers was not very good often found themselves in the same house with Him and at the same table (v. 15).

In the Gospels, "tax collectors" are collectors of taxes and tribute, like Levi son of Alphaeus, who is mentioned in the passage (v. 14). In Jewish society they were considered traitors, because they collected taxes for the treasury of the Roman Empire, under whose power Palestine was at that time, and many regarded them as accomplices of the occupying authorities. It is no wonder that such respected people among believers as the scribes and Pharisees did not care for this kind of company (v. 16).

In the Gospels, "Pharisees" are members of special religious brotherhoods that existed at that time around the synagogues. They were the most active part of the Synagogue; the Pharisees devoted much time to preaching, not only among Jews but often among Gentiles, to charity, and to religious education. With good reason they considered themselves the core of the synagogue community, and being near people who, from this point of view, had no standing, people known for an obviously unrighteous way of life, of course had to offend them. Besides, they did not consider such people worthy of fellowship with a Teacher like Jesus, and they considered it shameful for Him to sit at one table with them.

As for Jesus Himself, on the contrary, He considers such people worthy not of rejection, but of help: each of them can repent of his sins and turn to God (v. 17). And He does not treat religious life as formally as many religious people did at that time. For Him both fasting and the Sabbath are not ends in themselves, but means for establishing a relationship with God, so necessary for the human person, who always remains the main goal (vv. 27-28). Such a position, of course, inevitably had to lead to conflict with religious formalists, for whom any departures from established norms and rules are unacceptable by definition. So the image of new wine poured into an old wineskin, or skins (v. 22), could hardly have produced anything in them except irritation.

In today's passage, three episodes can be distinguished: the calling of Levi son of Alphaeus, the conversation with the disciples of the Pharisees and of John the Baptist about fasting, and the conversation with the Pharisees about keeping the Sabbath. In all three episodes, the growing conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees is shown. The Pharisees cannot accept the newness in relations with God and with people that Christ offers them. In their view, the main thing is the letter of the law. They condemn Jesus because He associates with tax collectors, who collected taxes for Rome. Such people were considered traitors and great sinners. For a pious person, it was considered unacceptable to sit at the same table with them. But for Christ something else proves important: the thirst for salvation that makes many tax collectors and sinners follow Him. Levi leaves his profitable place and immediately follows Jesus.

Jesus' attitude toward fasting is also incomprehensible to the Pharisees. Fasting is an ascetic means to which ascetics have resorted since ancient times in the hope of drawing near to God. But Christ's disciples cannot fast, because the One toward whom they strive is already with them. The time for fasting will come when Christ is no longer nearby. Christ compares the Pharisees' lack of understanding to the way old cloth cannot be mended with a patch of new cloth, and old, fragile wineskins cannot hold new wine. In order to receive the new relationships that Jesus offers, people themselves must be renewed.

Thus Christ places the Old Testament law about the Sabbath not above the human being, but at the service of the human being. For God, the human being is more important. The Sabbath has no value in itself, but was established for the human being. Christ, God become man, the "Lord of the Sabbath," affirms the primacy of the human being over the letter of the law, replacing it with relationships of love and faith.