Patrick Comerford
The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). Tomorrow is the Second Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany II, 18 January 2026), with readings that continue to focus on the Baptism of Christ by Saint John the Baptist, one of the three great Epiphany theme, alongside the Visit of the Magi and the Wedding at Cana.
The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Antony of Egypt (356), Hermit and Abbot, and Charles Gore (1835-1932), Bishop and Founder of the Community of the Resurrection.
Meanwhile, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 2: 13-17 (NRSVA):
13 Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.
15 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples – for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 17 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.’
Today’s Reflections:
In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Mark 2: 13-17), Christ is in Capernaum, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He has told a paralytic man that his sins are forgiven, but some religious authorities doubt his ability to do this, saying only God can forgive sins. He has proved that he is from God by also healing the man.
Tax collectors were considered unclean ritually, they worked for the occupying power and they were suspect financially. As with Peter and Andrew, Christ sees Levi the tax collector beside the sea, and he responds immediately to Christ’s call to follow him. Is this the same person as Matthew (see Matthew 9:9), the author of the first Gospel?
Christ first called fishers as first four disciples: Andrew and Peter, then James and John. His next choice of a tax collector seems a bold move. Tax collectors were typically local Jews who were employed by the Romans to collect taxes from the people. They extracted money from their neighbours and local people to cover the expenses of the foreign rulers and occupiers.
Some translations use the word publican instead of tax-collector. The word publican is a translation of τελώνης (telōnēs) the Greek word for tax-farmer, a collector of revenue or tolls, and we come across the same word in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18: 9-14).
The Romans paid tax collectors well, and seemingly did not care if the collectors took more than the tax required. They were free to take as much as they could for themselves – once the Romans had been paid.
Rome collected three principal kinds of taxes: a land tax, a head tax, and a customs tax of 2% to 5% of the value on goods being moved around. A tax office or booth stood near a city gate or port to collect the custom tax from people engaged in commercial trade, such as fishers exporting dried fish or farmers sending surplus crops to a larger city.
Tax collectors were seen as collaborators and as greedy, and they were despised. This attitude was reflected in the words of Jesus when he said: ‘If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector’ (Matthew 18: 17).
The Greek terminology indicates Levi is a low-level tax collector. Unlike Zacchaeus, he is not a chief tax collector. The words tax booth, or tax office translate the Greek τὸ τελώνιον (to telōnion, ‘revenue or tax office’ (Mark 2: 14). Perhaps Levi’s booth indicates he collects tolls along the road along the west shore of the Sea of Galilee. He would have been seen as a state-sponsored thief who socialised on the fringes of respectable society.
When Jesus walks along the shore (Mark 2: 13-14), he sees Levi. But instead of passing by, ignoring Levi or showing contempt or disgust, he calls him to follow him. Levi now becomes the disciple of a rabbi who is well-respected, who invites him into his home, and he organises a welcoming banquet for Jesus, to which he invites other tax collectors.
Dining with Levi damages Jesus’ reputation in the eyes of the religious leaders, local Pharisees and teachers of the law (Mark 2: 16). To eat with a Gentile or tax collector was regarded by strict Pharisees as rendering one spiritually or ceremonially unclean, to the point that even a house entered by a tax collector could be considered unclean.
The identity of Levi and his identification with Matthew are the subject of much speculation. Saint Mark also identifies Levi as the son of Alphaeus (Mark 2: 14). But he is also identified with Matthew in lists of the Twelve (see Luke 6: 14-16). Saint Matthew’s Gospel lists him specifically as Matthew the tax collector (see Matthew 10: 3), identified with the author of Saint Matthew’s Gospel.
Matthew is a Greek form of a Hebrew name, מַתִּתְיָהוּ (Matityahu), meaning ‘Gift of God’ and transliterated into Greek as Ματταθίας (Mattathias). It is similar to but not to be confused with the name Matthias (Ματθίας), another apostle, and the Greek word μαθητής (mathētēs), meaning disciple or learner, often used in the New Testament for followers of Jesus.
Many New Testament figures have two names: Simon becomes Cephas or Peter, Saul becomes Paul.
Mark and Luke name the tax collector as Levi, indicating he may have been a descendent of the tribe of Levi, which included the priests and Levites. But instead of a holy service in the Temple, this Levi is an unholy civil servant in his tax booth.
The roles of the Levites include washing the hands, and sometimes the feet of the kohanim after they remove their shoes and before they ascend the bimah or platform in the synagogue to give the priestly blessing to the congregation. As this custom developed, the association of the Levites with this washing led to iconographic depictions of pitchers, ewers and bowls on the tombstones of Levite families.
Levi abandons his lucrative business as a tax collector, and is called too to be a new form of Levite, to minister hand and foot to Christ the great high priest.
In accepting Jesus’ invitation, Levi extends his own invitation: he invited Jesus to dinner in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others eat with them in his large house, suited to a wealthy man. Yet those who are invited are seen as thieves, unbelievers, open sinners and social pariahs.
Did the guests also include Peter and Andrew, James and John, who once despised Levi who extracted tolls on their fish exports? When they see Jesus warmly accepting Levi, do they too accept him? Or does it take time? Are they hurt to hear their new fellow disciple put down with the question put not to Jesus but to them: ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ (Mark 2: 16).
Christ dines with people whose trades make them ritually unclean and social outcasts. When the religiously powerful question his actions, Christ replies: ‘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: 16). He comes to call and to invite into his Kingdom those in need of repentance, not those who think they are righteous in God’s eyes.
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 17 January 2026):
The theme this week (11-17 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Gaza Crisis Response’ (pp 18-19). This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update from the Diocese of Jerusalem.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 17 January 2026) invites us to pray:
We pray for the Christian Care Centre in Honiara and the women and children who find refuge there. May they experience safety, healing, and hope, and may the Sisters be strengthened in compassion and wisdom.
The Collect:
Most gracious God,
who called your servant Antony to sell all that he had
and to serve you in the solitude of the desert:
by his example may we learn to deny ourselves
and to love you before all things;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Merciful God,
who gave such grace to your servant Antony
that he served you with singleness of heart
and loved you above all things:
help us, whose communion with you
has been renewed in this sacrament,
to forsake all that holds us back from following Christ
and to grow into his likeness from glory to glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Epiphany II:
Almighty God,
in Christ you make all things new:
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives
make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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