Saturday in the Third Week of Lent, March 26, 2022

With a great number of Christian’s throughout the world, I prayed today for the consecration of Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

“Two people went up to the Temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.”  This first line of the Lord’s parable would have caught his hearers off-guard.  The first part was all right: “Two people went up to the Temple area to pray”, and the identity of one of these men as a Pharisee would not have surprised anyone.  But the idea of a tax collector going up to the Temple to pray was ridiculous.  It was like saying that a house had gotten up and walked away.  Tax collectors were not known as religious men.  They were hated by all for collaborating with the Romans and, on top of that, extorting money above what was required.  Examples of tax collectors converting did exist — St. Matthew was one — but for the most part they were thought of as wicked and they did little to convince anyone otherwise.  The way the Lord phrases the opening to his parable makes it sound as though the Pharisee and the tax collector were traveling together, but that would be very unlikely.

“The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself.”  A more literal translation would be, “The Pharisee, standing, was praying these words to himself.”  He did not “take up” a position.  He simply stood, which was the normal stance for praying in those days among the Jews.  The main verb “was praying” is in the imperfect, indicating that he did not say these words and then get up and leave; this meditation of his went on for some time.  The Greek text is clear that he is praying these words to himself, with the implication being that he had made an idol of himself, one of those objects that “have a mouth, but they speak not: they have eyes, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there any breath in their mouths” (Psalm 135, 16-17).  

“O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.”  The Pharisee is grateful that he is not like “this multitude, that knows not the Law, [and which is] accursed” (John 7, 49).  Because he is praying to himself as an idol, he gives himself credit that he has not created himself to be greedy, dishonest, and adulterous, but he does not within himself to see the arrogance, the contempt, and the tendency to condemn that needs to be rooted out.  He says, “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.”  The Law does not command anyone to fast twice a week.  He does this on his own but to no purpose.  The tithing is required for the upkeep of the Temple, but it is not so great a law as any of the moral laws in the Mosaic Law.  We should note that neither the fasting nor the tithing directly benefits anyone.  They do not feed the poor or assist widows and orphans.  That of which he boasts is paltry. 

“But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast.”  The Greek says, literally, “He did not wish even to raise his eyes to heaven.”  The Pharisee stood piously with his eyes lifted up and showed the world that he was praying.  The tax collector did not look like he was praying.  He did beat his breast, as though in mourning, but this was not a action typical of one praying.  “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  This contrasts severely with the Lord’s description of a Pharisee’s usual manner of prayer: “They think that in their much speaking they may be heard” (Matthew 6, 7).  But the tax collector’s prayer lines up well with the lean and direct prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

“The latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  The tax collector prayed for forgiveness and was heard, but the Pharisee’s boasting echoed within his empty soul.  He did not ask for forgiveness and was not forgiven.  And only God can “justify” or “make righteous” anyone.  The Pharisee wrongly thought that he could justify himself and so he was not, but the tax collector was justified at the time he was forgiven.  The Lord’s conclusion emphasizes the need for humility.  Humility requires an honest search of the Lord — not overly scrupulous but not indulging ourselves either.  We begin with prayer to see ourselves as others do.  It is a prayer the Pharisee could never have made.