One of the crown jewels of Catholicism is its intense love and concern for the downtrodden. When we read Isaiah’s command to remove oppression and bestow bread on the hungry, we are inspired and filled with zeal. Yet today’s Gospel reading casts those exhortations in an unexpected light: Who is included in the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the afflicted?

Tax collectors in ancient Judea were notoriously reviled for their role in oppressing the Jews with Roman taxes. Given Jesus’s love for the downtrodden, what is he doing with all these oppressors? Jesus reveals that these tax collectors, though they oppress others while they live in luxury, are no less in need of the Divine Physician’s healing.

Scandalously, Jesus loves these privileged and oppressive people just as much as he loves the leper or the orphan, and his earthly mission seeks their salvation without contradiction. Whereas most would scoff at the idea that tax collectors could ever be afflicted enough to warrant a dinner with the Messiah, Jesus challenges this thinking.

Loving the materially poor is now a mainstream message, at least in theory. You will not get many dirty looks for working at a soup kitchen or donating to charity. However, does your love extend to the tycoon who busts unions or the landlord who forces impoverished tenants out with rent increases? In your love for the oppressed, do you slide into antipathy toward the oppressors? In these readings, I believe that Jesus calls us to reject this way of thinking, tempting though it may be.