One of the things that I highly valued in people when I was still in the seminary was the capacity of some of my companions to see good in the person. It may be a case of a person we may consider incorrigible or somebody whom everyone else find difficult to correct; it may be a case where the mistake may be considered grave, a case where everyone was on the verge of giving up, and here comes a guy who sees good in the person, a guy who sees potential, a guy who simply would not give up for good on the person. And this is also what I see in Jesus today. In the eyes of all Matthew was a sinner, Matthew was a thief, Matthew was corrupt, a traitor, a conspirator to the oppressors of the country, and therefore Matthew was given up for good even by the religious men of his age. And yet Jesus came one day, looked at Matthew and called him from his post to follow him. Jesus saw goodness. He saw potential.
We can see two powers present in this attitude of Jesus that unleashed the potentials of Matthew – the power of mercy and the power of hope. Mercy is the power to understand the weakness of the person, where it is coming from, why is it there. And hope is the power to see potential and innate goodness even when the situation is dire and seemingly irredeemable. May Jesus share his powers to us.
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