Gospel in Art: I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners

Justitia vanquishes the Seven Capital Sins, by Antoon Claessens,1601 © Dorotheum, Vienna

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 13 January 2024
Mark 2:13-17

Jesus went out to the shore of the lake; and all the people came to him, and he taught them. As he was walking on he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus, sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him.

When Jesus was at dinner in his house, a number of tax collectors and sinners were also sitting at the table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of them among his followers. When the scribes of the Pharisee party saw him eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?' When Jesus heard this he said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.'

Reflection on the painting

Our Gospel reading today ends with the words 'I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.' Jesus came for all of us sinners, to free us from the chains of sin. In our painting by Flemish artist Antoon Claessens, we see the female embodiment of justice, wearing a metal girdle around her waist to which the seven deadly sins are chained. That is what sin does, it chains us, it enslaves us.

The biblical inscription in Latin on the scroll above Justice's head translates as "Thou shall break them with a rod of iron". Chained, we see the elegant figure of Luxuria (lust) with her torch symbolising passion; Superbia (pride) is admiring herself in a looking glass; Gula (gluttony) is eating a ham hock whilst drinking; Acedia (sloth) has her hands cut off; Avaritia (greed) slouches under a sack leaking coins; Invidia (jealousy) is depicted as an old lady lying upon red drapery; and finally Ira (rage), is preparing to plunge his dagger into an infant that is raising its arm towards Justitia crying for help.

The scribes in our reading would have argued that it was better to keep yourself separate from sinners in order to preserve your moral health. However, Jesus did not share this concern. Rather than the sin of others infecting him, he knew that his goodness, God's goodness in him, would transform them. Someone else's sin doesn't change us, but our own virtue might change them!

The Lord is never diminished by our failings; rather, we are always ennobled by his holiness. That is why the Lord does not separate himself from us, even when we might be tempted to separate ourselves from him. The Lord is always ready to sit with us, to share table with us, to enter into communion with us, in order that in our weakness we might draw from his strength.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/mark-2-13-17-2024/