Thirtieth Sunday In Ordinary Time - Year C. In Defense Of The Pharisee And Tax Collector

Let’s see what the Pharisee did right, and the tax collector—

The Pharisee prayed-

'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.'

Jesus indicates that the Pharisee's virtue was destroyed by pride, but he certainly was objectively living a good moral life.

e.g. The great monastic teacher Dorotheos used this Gospel text to preach to men in his community who apparently were making everybody miserable by inflicting a lot of self-righteousness and judgmentalism upon each other.

Surprisingly, he did not use this Gospel to make his monks stop bragging or ignore their own good deeds and acknowledge that they were sinners. Dorotheos said that the Pharisee was doing the right thing when he thanked

God for giving him the ability to do good—as should they (the monks) themselves. The Pharisee only did one thing wrong: he passed judgment on the tax collector.

He moved from the generic idea of sinners to one specific individual in the person of the tax collector whose motivation, attitude, and repentance he cannot know. In other words, he judged another person by taking his moral inventory which is wrong.

Don’t compare- identify.

He could have said, 'But for the grace of God, there go I.'

Danger sign: when your eyes have wandered FROM praying for those who are not practicing the Catholic faith or anybody who suffers and needs help TO the faults of those whom their faith has already helped.

The Pharisee presents his faith in comparison to the tax collector, like, “We have the perfect medicine for what ails you: It’s called grace and mercy. But the only requirement for receiving it is never to need it!”

In other words, God’s grace and mercy are meant to be bread for daily use, not cake for special occasions.

e.g. King David, who said, “Bless the Lord, my soul... and forget none of his benefits, and who forgives all your iniquities...”

Another positive for the Pharisee is that he wanted to be “set apart,” which is what the word Pharisee, means.

He said, “I fast twice a week.” This verse is the earliest attestation of the custom of the Jews fasting twice week, which historically was on Mondays and Thursdays. Christian tradition of about 100 AD was that Catholic Christians fasted Wednesday and Fridays.

Another plus: The Pharisee said, “I pay tithes on my whole income.” Here the emphasis is on “all.” Deuteronomy 14:22 prescribes a tithe of all the produce one’s seed, grain, wine, oil, firstlings of the herd and flock—it was to be offered annually at the harvest festival. If the person lived far from the Temple, the produce could be converted to money, and that could be offered instead.

This offers us an example of supporting our parish financially.

Tax Collector

1. The tax collector had compunction of heart. A contrite and humble heart-

Striking his breast is a sign of compunction of heart like we do in the Penitential Rite.

The Catholic faith is not concerned with guilt. It is concerned with mercy and the truth in love. The tax collected prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'

E.g. There is a wristband with these letters: LJC SoG HMoM aS.

LJC - Lord Jesus Christ;

SoG - Son of God;

HMoM - Have Mercy on Me;

aS - a Sinner.

A perfect prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Have Mercy on Me, a Sinner. It’s called the Jesus Prayer and it’s very ancient. [How many here know that Jesus has already shown mercy on you?! Now, can you receive it? And show it to others?]

A closing illustration:

A certain president happened to visit a prison and thus talked with each of the inmates. There were endless tales of innocence, of misunderstood motives, and of exploitation. Finally, the president stopped at the cell of a convict who remained silent. "Well," remarked president, " I really suppose you are an innocent victim too?" " No Sir, I' am not," replied the inmate. " I am guilty and deserve my punishment." Turning to the warden the president said, "Here, release this rascal before he corrupts all these fine, innocent people here!" The biblical saying proves true, " God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." ( 1Pet 5:5).

Amen.