Homily for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 27, 2019

Luke 18: 9-14
St. Anthony, Bronx

“Two men went up to the temple to pray” (Luke 18: 10).

by John Everett Millais

Last Sunday Jesus told us a parable about persistence in our prayer (Luke 18:1-8).  Today he tells us one about our attitude in prayer.

Every now and then a priest encounters a would-be penitent in confession who “confesses” his virtues or the faults of her husband rather than his or her own moral failures.  The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is about such people.

The 2 men in the parable have gone up to the temple at the hour of public prayer, specifically of the daily sacrifice and prayer for atonement.  Both men stand apart from the rest of the people assembled for prayer, but apart for very different reasons.

The Pharisees were a group of very pious Jews, dedicated to a rigorous observance of the Law of Moses, closely allied with the scribes, who studied, taught, and interpreted the Law.  In the Gospels the scribes and Pharisees are often paired in their resistance to Jesus’ preaching.  The Pharisees were no friends of ordinary Jews, who were much more casual about legal observance even if they weren’t scandalous sinners.

          Coming to temple prayer, the Pharisee separates himself lest he be contaminated by the uncleanness of the ordinary Jewish faithful, who aren’t as strict as he is in their observance of the Law.  He proceeds to thank God that he, the Pharisee, is so morally superior to everyone else—not a scoundrel, a swindler, an adulterer like the rest of mankind.  He goes on to list some of his pious practices like fasting and paying tithes.

It’s true that we must be grateful to God for whatever’s good in our lives, including whatever virtues we may practice.  The Pharisee, however, is telling God how good he is and how bad everyone else is.  He’s not really being thankful but boastful and arrogant.  He’s not in debt to God, not in need of atonement; God’s in debt to him!

Then the Pharisee specifically includes the tax collector in the ranks of the sinners whom he despises.  The rest of Jewish society did look down on tax collectors.  As a class they were seen as greedy, as extortioners—and as traitors because they collaborated with the Romans in their government of the Jewish territories, collecting various customs duties.  Having contracted with the Roman authorities to pay them a certain amount of money, they were then free to charge the taxpayers whatever they wished or could get away with.  Hence their reputation for greed, whether it was merited or not.  After all, no one loves the taxman!  That will be background also for next Sunday’s gospel about a particular tax collector in Jericho.

The tax collector in Jesus’ parable also separates himself from the assembly at prayer in the temple, but for a very different reason than the Pharisee.  He “stood off at a distance and wouldn’t even raise his eyes to heaven” (18:13).  He doesn’t consider himself worthy of the company of his fellow Jews, barely worthy of addressing God.  He knows that he needs atonement:  “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (18:13).  We don’t know whether he really was greedy or dishonest in his professional dealings.  But he knows who he is, knows his status before God:  a sinner who needs to be forgiven.

As are we all.  Regardless of our virtues—like Sunday Mass attendance, care for our families, day-to-day honesty, fidelity to our marriages and other obligations, restraining ourselves against the 7 deadly sins, and so so—we all fail quite a lot regarding love of neighbor, truthfulness, chastity, looking after our health, safety on the streets, and so on.  All of us ought to pray as the tax collector did.  All of us ought to come to our Lord Jesus every month in the sacrament of Reconciliation and confess our sinfulness, asking Christ for his mercy.  “The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens.  The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal,” the book of Sirach teaches us (35: 16-17).

At the end of the parable, Jesus says that only the tax collector went away from the temple justified, i.e., in a grace-filled relationship with God.  The Pharisee saw no need for God’s grace, didn’t ask for it, and didn’t receive it.  The tax collector saw, asked, and received.

The psalmist stresses that “The Lord hears the cry of the poor” (Responsory; cf. Ps 34), of the poor sinner who knows he or she can’t attain salvation unless our merciful God offers us forgiveness.  Which he does whenever we turn to him like the tax collector, particularly when we invoke the name of our Savior Jesus Christ.