Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time-C
This Sunday, we will examine the meaning of another of Jesus’ parables. It is a story about two distinct characters praying in the temple, one religious and the other not. One of them is a Pharisee, a religious party member and scholar who studied the Torah and determined for his people how the written law of God should be carried out daily.
The other character in the story was the hated tax collector. During Jesus’s time, the Romans demanded taxes, which their hired agents collected. The tax collectors were disliked because they collected taxes for an occupying force and extorted the people further to skim off the top money for themselves. We recall in scripture the tax collector Zacchaeus, who became a wealthy man because of the practice. Furthermore, they were deemed unclean because they mixed with Gentiles and worked on the Sabbath, defying the laws of Judaism.
Understanding the historical significance of the characters, we can now delve into the parable. Both of them were in the temple praying, and the Pharisee praying to himself said, “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.”
Far from the Pharisee and in the shadows, the tax collector offered this prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Not surprisingly, Jesus ended the parable by telling his readers that the tax collector, who had humility, left the temple justified, while the Pharisee did not.
The Pharisee’s prayer smacks of self-righteousness and pomposity, where practicing Christians rightly recoil. The extreme example of the Pharisee touting his own achievements instead of asking for mercy is not a usual temptation because a Christian is well aware he is a sinner and needs God’s mercy and forgiveness.
The temptation many of us face is not self-righteousness but self-justification. It happens almost unnoticed but is nevertheless a sinful inclination. It begins small and can take us over if unaware of its deadly implications. Most people fall into the trap of the Pharisee by comparing their lives with someone who is a greater sinner. Although we know we are sinners, we often rationalize that we are not as evil as someone who is obviously worse than us. We convince ourselves that we are better than the other, psychologically affirming our righteousness and justification.
We then absolve ourselves of our wrongdoings by comparing our actions to those of the other guy. We then convince ourselves that there is no way we will not get to heaven because we are better than the hardened sinner. In classical terms, this is the sin of presumption because we presume God will agree with our conclusion. St. Paul was not presumptuous and taught the Corinthians not to be either. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling.”
And if we convince ourselves of our own goodness and do not stop it, then our need for mercy and forgiveness will begin to be removed from our lives, and the sin of presumption grows. We do not have the power to grant salvation to ourselves and never will.
What is most curious is that we have no trouble comparing ourselves with bigger sinners, always coming on top. Rarely does the comparison head in a different direction. How many of us compare our lives with the saints? If we were to compare our lives with those of the saints, how wanting we would be?
If there is one thing we should take from this parable, it is that there is no room in our lives for self-righteousness or, even worse, self-justification. Do your best to grow in holiness daily and leave the justification up to God.