Homily for 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Pharisees really get a bad rap in Luke’s Gospel – in fact, in most of the New Testament. Somehow they get cast as the villains in most of the stories they are in. If all we know about Pharisees is what we read in the Bible, we don’t really have a very accurate picture of what Pharisees were really like. The parable we hear today is one that is only found in St. Luke’s Gospel, but it is yet another example of negativeness toward the Pharisees.  Why is this so?  Why are the Gospels so pointedly negative about this group of Jews?

Pharisees were Jews who formed an exclusive sect of men who wanted to do more than was required of the ordinary Jew of the day.  They were men who felt that their fellow Jews were not fulfilling the Law to the extent that they should be, so they took on doing more, especially in the area of donations or tithing, following the fasting laws, praying many times a day, and helping others by giving alms.  That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?  We are reminded of many Christian groups that have done the same thing.  St. Francis, for example, started an order, a sect, of you will, of Christianity which set about to do much the same thing. Like the Pharisees, they wanted to do more than just what was required.

I believe that any group that goes to extremes will be a target for criticism. What is being criticized in the Gospels, however, is not the fact that they try to do more, or go to extremes.  It is more the motives behind what they do. It is very easy for a person to feel self-righteous when they know they are doing more than they should.  I am sure in every office there is the employee who does more than the others, keeps in early, stays late, sucks up to the boss by asking for more work. Is there motive for doing this to do really good work, or is to get ahead at the expense of others?  Does it make them self-righteous to others who work there; does it make them feel like the employee is shaming them, putting on airs or trying to be better than they are? It is very easy to fall in that trap on both sides of the issue.  It is easy to feel righteous and look down on the one who is coming in late each day or seems to be slacking off by playing games on the internet.  It is easy to dislike the officious office worker who makes everyone feel one can never be good enough.

If we look closely today at the prayer of the Pharisee, we can see that he is a little bit like this officious employee. Because he knows he is doing more than the others, he feels that he is better than the others.  His work ethic, or for the Pharisee, his religious ethic, places him, in his mind, above the others. He sees himself to be elite in many ways. His prayer to God sets him apart.  Thank God, he says, that I am not like those others.  I am not greedy – I give more than my share of money to the synagogue! I am not dishonest – I am scrupulous in the way I run my business and pay everyone what they are worth!  I am not adulterous – I don’t go cheating on my wife or have torrid affairs with my secretary, even if she is beautiful! Just think of all the extra things I do – I go to Mass two days a week, not just on Sundays like everyone else!  I give far more money to the church than anyone else does – I know because I offer my services to the church and I know what everyone else gives!  Thank you God, for making me better than everyone else!

What the Gospels object to, and what has painted such a bad portrait of the Pharisee is simply the motive for their actions.  This motive seems to be to glorify themselves and make themselves feel better than other people. This is a no-no in the Gospels!

Jesus consistently preaches that if you do that, you are getting your reward for good behavior right now. The first shall be last. God knows our motives.

On the other hand, tax collectors have had a better rap in the Gospels.  During the time of Jesus, however, tax collectors were thought to be scum by most Hebrews. ‘Tax collector’ is probably not a good term to use today because it meant a different thing from what we might think of it as a profession today.  I suppose none of us particular like the IRS, but I don’t think we blame the people who are doing their jobs there.  No, the tax collector might better be thought of as an agent – you know, one of those people who make their living by taking a cut of other people’s income.  Think of a talent agent who demands 30-40 per cent of an actor’s income to get jobs for the actor.  Most of these agents in movies and on TV are played rather as parasites and are not very pleasant.  One of the best examples is the agent on the show Entourage.

In any case, to use the tax collector as the contrast to the Pharisee would be like comparing the CEO to the mail clerk in a company.  A wide gap exists between them.

Notice the prayer itself for a moment as well.  Look at the number of times that the pronoun “I” is mentioned: “I thank you…I am not like….I fast…I pray….”  This is a self-centered prayer. This is prayer of entitlement, not thanksgiving.

But Jesus says that the tax collector had the proper attitude and understanding of his relationship to God. He had a realistic view of who he is was and his relationship to the universe. He had humility in the face of God. Jesus was not saying that the things the Pharisee were doing were not good.  In fact, they were very good. But he was saying that if doing those good things makes you feel superior, and you like that feeling, then you have the wrong motive for what you do. The tax collector felt that he needed God right now.  The Pharisee didn’t. The tax collector knew he could be a better person.  He knew that he was in need of God’s mercy. Our prayer needs to have the same perspective, Luke says.

What are our motives for doing the things that we do? Only we, and God, can know, but those motives must be examined.  I think it is by truly seeing ourselves in honest relation to God and society that we will do our best work, and will reap the rewards of that work in many ways.  By looking at needs of others than ourselves, we can gain some humility and some humanity!

The beautiful reading today from the Book of Sirach puts this into perspective for us.  God listens to everyone, and he has no favorites. Except, that the people who suffer injustice, the oppressed, the poor, the needy, the humble seem to have a special voice that gets through to God faster and clearer.That voice does not have to be filtered through human pride and vanity.  It rings clear. In the Psalm today we hear that “when the just cry out, God hears them, continuing that same theme.

In the reading from St. Paul to Timothy we hear Paul at the end of his life, looking over what he has accomplished, and finding some satisfaction that he has done his best, that he has run a good race. He shows humility, however, not like the Pharisee in his prayer, by attributing his success to God’s work in him. His strength has come from God, and he looks forward to his reward in heaven.

So what can all this mean to us this week? The frightening part for me is the question “Am I a Pharisee or a tax collector?”  We are the people who go to Mass each week; we are the people who try to do the little extras to make the world a fairer and juster place. Does this being better than others make us feel good?  Is that our motive? Or do we come to this place and get a sense of our oneness with the other people here, listen to the needs and fears and hopes of the other parishioners, and understand that we are all together on this journey of life, and we need God to calm the seas, and make straight the path. If the latter is the case, then we are developing true humility and our motives are pure.  I think there is a little bit of both is most of us.  Let’s see this week if we can distill the pride out, and examine our motives for doing what we do, and come to a new acceptance, a new awareness of the necessity of God and the community in our lives.

The story is told that one day Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, visited a prison and talked with each of the inmates. There were endless tales of innocence, of misunderstood motives, and of exploitation. Finally the king stopped at the cell of a convict who remained silent. “Well,” remarked Frederick, “I suppose you are an innocent victim too?” “No, sir, I'm not,” replied the man. “I'm guilty and deserve my punishment.” Turning to the warden the king said, “Here, release this rascal before he corrupts all these fine, innocent people in here!” The biblical saying proves true, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

Today's gospel is one to which every believer needs to pay close attention. It is the story of two believers, a Pharisee and a tax collector. It is important to underline the facts that both men were believers in the same God, both belonged to the same religion and both worshipped in the same temple. Both men were active believers who participated in temple worship and said their daily prayers. But what do we see? At the end of the worship one of them went home at peace with God but the other did not. We all, believers in God, need to pay attention to this story not only to learn the secret of offering a worship acceptable to God but also of leading a life of faith that leads to justification and not disappointment at the end of the day.

It will help us to appreciate the point of this parable if we try to understand a little bit more of who the Pharisees were. It often comes to us as a surprise to hear that the Pharisees were, in fact, very disciplined and devout men of religion. Pharisees were serious-minded believers who had committed themselves to a life of regular prayer and observance of God's Law. In fact, they went beyond the requirements of the law. They fasted twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays, even though the law only required people to fast once a year, on the Day of Atonement. They gave tithes of all their income and not just of the required parts. When the Pharisee in the parable said, “I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income” (Luke 18:11-12) he wasn't kidding. Few Christians today can measure up to the visible moral standards of the Pharisees.

Tax collectors, on the other hand, were generally regarded as people of low moral standards. Because tax collectors worked for the pagan Romans, mixed up with them and constantly handled their unclean money they were said to be in a state of ritual uncleanliness. As far as the religion of the day was concerned, tax collectors were public sinners on the highway to hell. But the tax collectors knew that the voice of people is not always the voice of God. They still hoped for salvation not on the merit of any religious or moral achievements of theirs but on the gracious mercy of God.

Believing in God does not really save anybody. James tells us that the devil himself believes in God and trembles with fear (James 2:19). Rather, what really matters is what people believe about God and how their faith in God affects their view of themselves and of others. The Pharisees believed in a discriminating God who loves good people and hates bad people. People behave like the God they believe in. So the Pharisees quickly learn to love only good people like themselves and look down with contempt on bad people and sinners like the tax collectors. Jesus told this parable against the Pharisees because they “trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt” (verse 9). The tax collector, on the other hand, trusted not in himself or in anything he had done but only in God’s mercy. Standing far off, he would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13). This is the man who went home at peace with God and not the self-righteous Pharisee.

Like the Pharisee and the tax collector we too have come to God's house to offer worship and prayers. Like them we too hope to go home at the end of this service reconciled and at peace with God. Then let us learn from the tax collector the secret of worshipping in a manner that is acceptable to God. Firstly, we should not listen to other people or even to our own consciences when they tell us that God is so angry with us that He cannot possible forgive us. Secondly, we must acknowledge our sinfulness and entrust ourselves to the generous mercy of God which is bigger than any sins we might have committed. Finally, we promise God to never to look down on our fellow sinners but to help them in their search for God, just as the tax collector is helping us today in our search for God. Remember, God always opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

"I am a winner in the Lord." "We shall overcome, in Jesus' name." "We are more than conquerors." Slogans like these have become very popular in prosperity gospel churches. You can tell by the name some of these churches have chosen for themselves, such as Overcomers, Winners and Victory churches. This "victory now" attitude is fast making its way into mainline churches like the Catholic and Anglican churches. In light of today's second reading from 2 Timothy, where St. Paul celebrates his victory, it would be nice for us to stop and ask ourselves, "What is of Christian victory?" When Paul declares that the Lord will save him from every evil (2 Timothy 4:8), does that mean that, as a man of God, no pains, hardships or sufferings would ever be his portion in life, as prosperity gospel preachers claim? These questions will help us clear some misunderstandings on what the Bible teaches on Christian victory.

Persecution was a defining experience of the first Christians at the time when most of our new Testament books were written. Paul, the stated writer of 2 Timothy, was a victim of such a persecution. He was facing charges for treason against the state on account of his belief in Christ. To add to his woes, even his friends, the Christians for whom he had spent his life, abandoned him and did not come to his defence. As he says, himself, "At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me" (2 Tim 4:16). The trial did not go well for Paul. It was clear that he was losing the case. Maybe he was already convicted and only awaiting sentencing. Maybe he was already sentenced to death and was on death row awaiting execution. What is clear is that Paul knew for sure that he was not going to get out of prison alive. So he decides to write to Timothy, his spiritual son, urging him not to be discouraged at the prospect of his imminent death but to continue with courage his work of preaching Christ.

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Tim 4:6-8)

Paul is not deluding himself. He knew that time was up, as far as his life in this world is concerned. Yet that does not discourage him. He does not complain that the Lord has abandoned him into the hands of his enemies. He does not lament that the Lord has failed him by letting his accusers win the case. Rather he rejoices that the time has come for him to receive the crown of righteousness from the Lord whom he served so faithfully. This is what death means for Paul. For Paul, arrest, imprisonment, punishment, torture, and even death itself come from the Lord as much as life, health and freedom. Paul sees the hand of the Lord at work in these circumstances. "All things work together for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28). All things, including death.

At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (2 Tim 4:16-18)

Even though Paul lost the case, he still said that he was saved from the lion's mouth. For Paul death was not the lion's mouth, since he was not saved from death. For him the lion's mouth was apostasy, or denying the faith so as to escape death. Denying the faith, not death, is the worst thing that could happen to a believer. So Paul acknowledges the Lord for saving him from the lion's mouth and makes the general affirmation, "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom" (verse 18). The evil attacks that Paul has in mind are not those that affect the body only, such as shipwreck, flogging, stoning, and so on. The Lord did not rescue him from many of those (2 Cor 11:23-27). For him, the only rescue that counts is being rescued for the heavenly kingdom. This is the victory that counts, in the long run.

Paul's teaching and example show us that the popular gospel that says that material prosperity is the ultimate measure of faith is a lie. The faith of our fathers and mothers, the faith of St. Paul, is the faith that accepts material prosperity when it comes, but does not deny God even when it does not (Phil 4:12).

By Bishop Kasomo Daniel PhD; D.Sc

The Catholic Bishop of The Society of St. Peter and Paul (SSPP)