The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

It is the 30th Sunday in Ordinary time and today's gospel reading is truly an ordinary teaching about humility by our Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout the two thousand year history of Christianity, today's gospel teaching which comes from Luke 18: 9-14 talks about the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector. It is a lesson, despite the story being shared and told thousands of times, is still a very relevant teaching during the time of our Lord Jesus Christ and in today's time.

“9Jesus addressed this parable to those convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. 10 "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity-greedy, dishonest, adulterous or even like this tax collector.

12 I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ 13 But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the ones who humble himself will be exalted.”

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This story is about two personalities infamous during Ancient Palestine when the Roman Empire controlled most of the Middle East. The Pharisees were allowed to practice their religion for as long as they do not form or support any revolt against Rome. In order for Rome to exact control over their vassal states, they collect tribute from the Jews. So they "commandeered" certain Jews to collect this tribute for them. This is why the tax collectors during the time of our Lord Jesus Christ were the most hated amongst the Jewish people. They were considered collaborators with the occupying Roman Imperial army.

As the story goes, the Pharisee began praying this prayer, "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity-greedy, dishonest, adulterous or even like this tax collector." Come now, you must be totally out of your mind to pray this type of prayer. But then we're talking about a Pharisee many of whom are noted for their self-righteousness. Contrast this with the tax collector who had a very simple prayer, "O God, be merciful to me, a sinner."

After telling them this parable, our Lord Jesus Christ said, "I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and the ones who humble himself will be exalted." If there is anything that God abhors, it is human pride. What is worst here is that the Pharisee went to prayer to thank God for his self-righteousness and then compared himself to the lowly sinner, the tax collector. The Pharisee in the parable is the epitome of a self-righteous man who will be condemned not because of his sinfulness but his utter lack of humility.

On the other hand, the Lord Jesus Christ took kindly to the tax collector, a public sinner who showed his humility by admitting before the heavens that he was sinful man who needed the mercy of God. 

We are now approaching the end of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy and Compassion, which Pope Francis called from December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016. It is considered extraordinary because the calling of the Jubilee Year did not follow the usual 25-year cycle that the Catholic Church follows in its calendar. One can also say that perhaps one logical reason is that in exactly a year from now the Catholic Church will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, and if we spent the year prior to that anniversary in prayer, it may just be pleasing to God who by now is fed up with the evil that has cast its dark cloud over humanity.

So before the Jubilee Year of Mercy ends on November 20, the Feast of Christ the King, I suggest that you enter the "Holy Door" which in Cebu is open at the Metropolitan Cathedral. It may not be comparable to a pilgrimage to Europe going to the holy sites of the apparitions, but it is a way of walking with God in all humility accepting and admitting that we have all sinned and need the mercy of God.

And as we learned from today's Parable of the Pharisee and Tax collector, it is the humble sinner that was justified in the eyes of God. God after all, loves the sinner, not the sin and if there is anything that God doesn't want to see in man, it is a man who is so self-righteous to the point that he is above the rest of humanity, but in all truth, he is a fallen person.

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