Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 27 October 2013 Luke 18: 9-14

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

27 October 2013

Luke 18: 9-14

 

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:  “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about  himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Who am I to judge?

 

The parable of the Pharisee and the publican tends to arouse in many Christians a strong rejection of the Pharisee who stands before God looking arrogant and sure of himself, and a spontaneous sympathy for the publican who humbly acknowledges his sin. Paradoxically, the story can awaken in us this feeling:  “I give thee thanks, my God, because I am not like this Pharisee.”

   To hear the message of the parable correctly, we have to realize that Jesus does not tell the story to  criticize the group of Pharisees, but to trouble the  consciences of “some who held themselves as just, felt secure about themselves and despised the rest.” Among these we find  indeed many Catholics in our times.

   The prayer of the Pharisee reveals to us his inner attitude. “Oh God! I thank you because I am not like the others.”What kind of a prayer is this that prompts us to believe ourselves better than others? Even a Pharisee, who faithfully fulfills the law, can live with a perverted attitude. This man feels himself just before God and precisely for this reason he becomes a judge who despises and condemns those who are not like him.

   The publican, on the other hand, only manages to say: “Oh God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This man humbly recognizes his sin  He cannot boast about how holy his life is.  He commends himself to the compassion of God. He does not compare himself to anyone. He does not judge the others. He lives the truth as he sees it and before God.

    The parable is a sharp criticism that exposes a deceptive religious attitude  allowing us to live in the sight of God confident of our innocence while we condemn from a stance of our supposed  moral superiority all those who do not think or act like us.

   Historical circumstances and self-congratulatory trends at variance with the Gospel have made Catholics especially prone to this temptation. So we have to read the parable, each one of us , in an attitude that looks critically at ourselves: Why do we believe ourselves better than agnostics? Why do we feel ourselves closer to God than those who do not practice their faith? What lies behind certain prayers for the conversion of sinners?  What does it mean to make reparation for the sins of others while we ourselves are not converted to God?

   Recently, when asked by a journalist, Pope Francis made  this statement: “Who am I to judge someone who is gay?” His reply surprised almost everyone. Apparently, no one expected such a simple and evangelical  reply from a Catholic Pope.  However, this is the attitude of those who truly live before God.