Homily for the week of October 24, 2010

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18

Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Luke 18:9-14

From this pulpit you have heard the word parable used many, many times as part of the third reading known as the Gospel. In the Bible there are only 4 Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospels were written for different readers: some of them Jews like Jesus, some who had no religion, some who were Jews and became Christians. The Gospels give us the words of Jesus and how Jesus wanted his followers to live. Jesus was a teacher. Like all outstanding teachers he uses parables to teach. A Parable is another name for story. Jesus uses parables, like the one in today’s Gospel, to help his listeners identify and change harmful behavior in themselves. Today Jesus tells us the story of a Pharisee and a tax collector both who go the church to pray.

Pharisees enjoyed the unqualified respect of the Jews but were often opponents of Jesus. In English today the word Pharisee often refers to a hypocrite, to someone who pretends to be religious but is not. At the time of Jesus, however, Pharisees were often devout and religious. They were ordinary persons who volunteered their time to help others. They also tried to follow the Jewish religion with great care. And by and large, the people loved and respected the Pharisees more than any other Jewish group. That respect was earned because they went way beyond the rules of the Bible. If the Bible said that a person should give 10% of his income to the temple, the Pharisee would give 20%; if the Bible said you should go to church once a week, the Pharisees went every day.

In Jesus’ time the tax collector would have been regarded as the opposite of the Pharisee. Tax collectors were an especially terrible group. The tax collector collected taxes for the Roman government who ruled Palestine. The Roman government would set the amount of taxes to be collected. Persons would then bid on that amount and make a contract to pay the set amount to the Roman Government. The Roman government would then give the job of tax collector to the one who would pay the largest bribe to the Romans. In exchange the tax collector collected the tax from his Jewish neighbor, plus any amount he could collect for himself. Tax collectors often overcharged the people keeping the profits for themselves. They were also known as spies for the Roman occupiers. Jewish rabbis taught that there were two occasions that it was all right for a Jewish person to lie -- to someone who wanted to kill you, or to a tax collector.

In the story today the Pharisee and the tax collector both go to the temple to pray. The Pharisee tells God how good he has been. His entire prayer directs attention to himself and his accomplishments: “I thank you...I am not like.... I fast.... I pray....” He thanks God not for the gifts he has been given but for not being like all the rest of humanity. He appears to have no need of God.

The tax collector, in contrast, beats his breast and prays simply, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Focusing on God, he prays for openness to divine mercy, which has the power to transform his sinfulness.

The tax collector concentrates only on God in his prayer, while the Pharisee spends most of his energy focusing on how much better he is than the tax collector. The sinner throws himself at the mercy of God; the Pharisee recites his spiritual resume. And here is the real surprise, neither man realized as they left the Church that God had forgiven the sinner and condemned the saint.

The end of the parable is startling: It is the tax collector who is in right relation with God. He has sinned, but he knows and acknowledges it. He is acutely aware of his utter dependence on God. He does not compare himself to others, but seeks connectedness to them through their common bond of reliance on God’s mercy.

This story can be both good news or bad news? It all depends on our point of view. For those who wish their good deeds added up on deposit in God’s heavenly bank, this story is bad news. But for those who thought they were forever stiff-armed from God’s because of their terrible bad sins, this story is surprising good news. Those who think they do not have a prayer to make it to heaven need to know that a prayer is precisely what they do have. It’s all any of us have ever had. Each of you have come to church because you are in need of God. Today as you prepare for communion personally prepare yourselves, not the one next to us. As I hold the Eucharist for you to see and pray: THIS IS THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD. HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO ARE CALLED TO TO THIS MEAL. And, and like the tax collector you respond: LORD, I AM NOT WORTHY TO RECEIVE YOU, BUT ONLY SAY THE WORD AND I SHALL BE HEALED. O LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME, A SINNER.