WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two of President Bush's staunchest domestic critics leapt to his defense Thursday, a day after one of his fiercest foreign foes called him "the devil" in a scorching speech before the United Nations.
"You don't come into my country; you don't come into my congressional district and you don't condemn my president," Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, scolded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, was blunt in her criticism of the Venezuelan leader. "He is an everyday thug," she said.
Chavez kept up his criticism of Bush during a visit to Harlem on Thursday, calling the U.S. president "a sick man" who is unqualified for the job. Chavez also said he is expanding his heating-oil program to help low-income Americans.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks at Cooper Union in New York on Wednesday.
Matthew was a tax collector. If anyone of Jesus’ day was in need of a spiritual doctor, it was Matthew. He had betrayed all that was sacred in his life. Matthew had forsaken his people by becoming a tax collector for Rome. He traded everything of true value for material wealth. But Jesus called Matthew to a completely new life. His was transformed from a life of greed to a life of grace.
Jesus also calls each one of us from a life of pointless pursuit to a life of providence. Before Christ Jesus came to us, we were dying. We needed the Great Physician to heal us of the fatal sickness of sin. Without the call of Christ, we would not only die a physical death but also a spiritual death.
Like Matthew, we needed God to come to us, because we could not come to Him. God is unapproachable for sinners. He is beyond the reach of mortal man. There are those who think we have to first approach God and accept Him. But if you are righteous enough to approach God, then why do you need a Savior?
Our Lord did not come for those who do not need Him. He came to seek and save the lost. He came to give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, make the lame walk, and raise the dead.
The “righteous” people had no use for this Jesus of Nazareth. Why go to the doctor when you’re not sick? The Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their way of life. The world sees Jesus as a threat to the way they live.
But God desires mercy, not sacrifice. In other words, God doesn’t want us to offer sacrifices of good deeds, monetary contributions, or any other contribution of self. He desires that we live our lives as Christians, that is, we receive the salvation Jesus won for us on the Cross.
God has shown us mercy by giving His Son as the Atonement for our sins. There are no more sacrifices required. Now the mercy we show one another is merely an overflowing of the mercy God has poured into us.
Jesus came to seek to save the lost. He came to seek and save lost Matthew. He came to seek lost and you and me too.
“O almighty God, whose blessed Son has called us even as he called Saint Matthew the tax collector, grant that we also may forsake all sins, all covetous desires and inordinate love of riches and, cast every care upon him, may following Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.” (Collect for St. Matthew, Apostle)
See also the Aardvark on this day.
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. Philippians 4:11b
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