“The hardest people to reach with the
love of God are not the bad people. They know they are bad. They have no
defense. The hardest ones to win for God are the self-righteous people.”
Gospel
Text: (LK 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.”
Face it, the résumé of the Pharisee is
stellar! Just look at all his qualities, and look at the things he
does. In church lingo he is the ideal parishioner: he prays, he
fasts, and he tithes. He is a deeply religious man making me think that
he has a genuine fear of the Lord. He hasn’t taken things which he
hasn’t honestly earned. He is faithful to his wife, patient with his
children, and loyal to his friends. He is disciplined in life
and honest with his business. He doesn’t chase after money or
women. Here is a guy who comes to church and believes he is abundantly
blessed by God. You have to give the guy credit. He is a good
person, and he knows it.
If we contrast him to the tax
collector you would be keeping your distance. The tax collector is not a
person who tells you the truth. No one would really want him to be part
of their faith community. He’s not trustworthy. Notoriously, he is
good at swindling, and can negotiate deals with power people who are against
you. He can take what he wants from you leaving you with no
recourse. Look at the company he keeps, his friends are cheats and
thieves as well. He is notorious for taking your hard earned money and
giving it to the international dictator. The truth is, you would never
invite this man to your house for dinner. And now the stage is
set. Whose side do you choose?
The majority of rational people would
choose the honest, God fearing, law abiding Pharisee. And yet this
religious person’s judgment of himself as superior to the tax collector is
exactly why Jesus told the parable. Remember, Luke tells us that Jesus
addresses this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
This praying Pharisee not only thinks
he is better than the other man in the temple, he has gone so far as to stand
before God and declare himself better that the rest of humanity! And
while the things he may say about himself are true, he certainly neglects the
shadow side of himself. He really doesn’t see his whole self. One
could say he is living a partial lie. St. Paul reminds us that all have
sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. All of his bragging won’t lead
him into God’s grace or gift him with salvation.
Like the people in Jesus’ day, most of
us have been taught to strive everyday to be better than this tax
collector. And many of us have been conditioned to believe that the
better of a person we are the more credit or reward we will have somewhere along
the line. Again and again the Pharisee in us pops out when we are
challenged with people we would judge as beneath us. And at the end of
the day, the tables turn on us, because the person we would choose in this
story is not the one Jesus declares to be justified.
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