Gospel (Mk 2,13-17) - At that time, Jesus went out again along the sea; the whole crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax counter, and said to him: "Follow me". He got up and followed him. While Jesus was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat at table together with Jesus and his disciples; in fact there were many who followed him. Then the scribes of the sect of the Pharisees, seeing him eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples: "Why does he eat and drink in the company of tax collectors and sinners?" Having heard this, Jesus said to them: «It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus continues walking on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is the meeting place. As he walks he sees Levi, a publican, who is sitting at the counter to collect taxes on behalf of the occupying Romans. As soon as Jesus sees him, he calls him. And he too is struck by that call. Levi gets up, leaves everything and starts following him. That little family continues to grow in number too. The master is not interested in the origin or condition of those who call to follow him. In fact, to be part of the community of disciples there are no preclusions whatsoever; it doesn't matter what we are like, what history or what character we have. Levi is even considered a public sinner, a corrupt person because of his office as tax collector. To be part of the community of disciples, what matters is listening to the word of the Lord and putting it into practice. For Matthew-Levi, as for the first four disciples, it was enough to listen to just one: "Follow me!". The evangelist continues by describing the lunch that Levi organizes in honor of Jesus and the disciples. However, he invites his friends, who are also tax collectors like him and therefore sinners. For the public opinion of the time, sharing a table also meant sharing impurity. This is where the strong accusation against Jesus begins. But the harshness of a legalistic mentality devoid of mercy immediately appears. Jesus' concept is very different: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." The condition, for us too, to be saved lies in not feeling okay but in need of the Lord's help.