Gospel Commentary Oct. 27, Lk
18:9-14
How do you and I stand before the Lord? Are we justified in the
eyes of Christ or are we justified in the eyes of ourselves and the eyes of the
world? Consider the Gospel parable addressed “to those who were convinced of
their own righteousness.”
Two men went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, a member
of the powerful religious party that strictly upheld the Torah laws. He
positioned himself proudly and conspicuously. In his prayer, he boasted of his
own righteousness, but by his own standard. Yes, he paid tithes and fasted, but
those were the minimum requirements set by the Torah; what about doing other
good works and making real sacrifices to help others? He did not commit serious
sins, like adultery, but what about venial sins, internal sins of thought, and
omissions? He considered himself not like the rest of sinful humanity,
including the tax collector; can anyone honestly make such a sweeping
judgment?
A key phrase of the text is he “spoke this prayer to himself.” He
prayed to himself. He is the standard of righteousness. He has no sin. He has
checked all the boxes on his checklist of holiness. Filled with pride, this man
has no need for God nor for others. So, he left unjustified in the eyes of God.
Pride is like molten iron that hardens the soul, weighs it down and sinks it to
hell. The gates of hell are forged with the iron of pride.
On the other hand, the tax collector stood in the shadows with
head bowed, striking his breast, simply saying, “Lord, be merciful to me a
sinner.” Keep in mind that tax collectors were labeled as sinners. They were
the pariahs of Jewish society because they worked for Rome, the pagan, evil
empire. Also, they made their income by collecting an increment set by law to
the tax base; however, most inflated the increment and pocketed extra money for
themselves at the expense of their fellow Jews.
Now we do not know anything about this particular tax collector.
He may have been totally honest.
However, he humbled himself before God. He boasted of no good
deeds. He compared himself to no one else and made no excuses. He simply knew
he was a sinner in need of God’s mercy. He left, justified in the eyes of God.
Humility expands the soul so that the Lord can fill it with grace — his divine
life and love — and lift the soul to heaven.
We need to be on guard. Poor children of Adam and Eve, victims of
original sin, we must guard against pride. We must not be self-justified and
stand in church praying to ourselves, “I do the required minimum — Mass on
Sunday and grace at meals. I give something to the church, a charity or two. I
am definitely better than my neighbor, even the guy in the other pew. I have no
sin, and I don’t need confession. I am a good person, well thought of in the
community, work and political party. When I die, I am sure my funeral will be a
canonization. And by the way Lord, you ought to be happy I am here today.”
No, we must stand before the Lord as poor humble sinners
imploring his mercy. For this reason, we pause at the beginning of Mass,
examine ourselves, and, like the tax collector, strike our breast begging for
God’s mercy for our sins of commission and omission.
Then having humbly worshipped the Lord at Mass and received the
gift of the holy Eucharist, we leave not self-justified, but rather renewed, to
run the race, fight the good fight and keep the faith, as St. Paul taught in
the Epistle. Rather than doing the minimum, we strive to do the best we can
with the help of God’s grace. We want to be like the saints, all of whom did
not consider themselves as “saints,” but as poor sinners in need of God’s
mercy. If that is our strategy and the standard of righteousness is Jesus, a
crown of righteousness awaits. Yes, the gates of hell are forged with the iron
of self-righteous pride, but the stairs of heaven are polished with the tears
of the humble who prayed, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.”
Fr. Saunders, pastor of Our Lady
of Hope Church in Potomac Falls, is episcopal vicar for faith formation and
director of the Office of Catechetics.