Jesus Calls Forth the Broken and the Excluded
This Lenten season is a time to remember that Jesus came specifically for people like us — people who struggle, sin, and stumble on our journey.
Dear friends —
Beginning this week, Letters from Leo is publishing daily Lenten reflections through Easter, available exclusively to paid subscribers.
Each meditation will explore what it means to follow Jesus more faithfully in the midst of American civic and political life — not as partisans first, but as Christians whose consciences are shaped by the Cross.
Lent is a season of repentance, renewal, and resolve.
It is a time to confront our idols, strip away our illusions, and allow the light of God’s redeeming love to search and purify our hearts.
I hope you will walk this forty-day road with me — as your brother and fellow sinner — embracing prayer, sacrifice, and deeper conversion, and allowing the God of liberation to claim every corner of our lives and our public witness in an age of creeping authoritarianism.
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.” (Luke 5:31-32)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus does something radical: he calls a tax collector named Levi to follow him. Tax collectors were seen as traitors and sinners, yet Jesus looks at Levi and sees a disciple.
Without hesitation, Levi leaves everything behind and embraces this new life. His response reminds us that God’s call comes not to those who think they’re righteous, but to those who know they are imperfect and in need of mercy.
Hubris and pride build walls that keep us from God. If we imagine we have it all together, we close ourselves off to the Lord’s healing. The Pharisees in this story scoff at Jesus for eating with “sinners.”
In their arrogance, they miss the key point of Jesus’s entire ministry.
