Pentecost+20/Proper 25C (Luke 18:9-14)

Jesus has contributed to the reputation that Christians have towards the Pharisees. It’s not a positive one as they are often considered hypocritical religious authorities who teamed up with the Sadducees and the Roman government to crucify Jesus. In today’s lesson, Jesus in his parable contrasts a Pharisee and a tax collector and looks into the contents of their prayers. While it is tempting and easy to pick on the Pharisees, let’s be mindful of Jesus’ good intention that he talks about them critically, hoping they would listen and change. Jesus gets on their nerves, yet he never ignores them. There’s no indifference in his attitude to the Pharisees. 

With this in mind, the Pharisee in the parable can be called righteous and even holy in his actions if he really does what he says he does in his prayer. He’s certainly different from thieves, rogues, adulterers, and the tax collector standing next to him. He fasts twice a week and gives a tenth of all his income to the temple (or God). According to the list of things he says he does, he seriously keeps the commandments and precepts. No killing, no stealing, no lying, no committing adultery. These are the fundamental rules of life that any religion may share in common. He’s also religiously observant that he fasts twice a week and tithes. There’s no doubt that this Pharisee is morally and religiously superior to the tax collector. 

In Jesus’ eyes, however, the Pharisee is not “justified” but the tax collector who is morally and ethically unjust. This may have shocked his audience. These are people who “...trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” (Luke 18:9) This also should surprise us because these people if they do what the Pharisee in the parable does, are indeed morally righteous and superior to the tax collector. What this means for us is that their righteousness is not enough for them to be justified in God’s eyes. Jesus concludes, “...this man [the tax collector] went down to his home justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” He sounds as if any moral actions would matter at the end as long as one says “Sorry.” This type of interpretation of Jesus’ teaching this morning doesn’t serve justice, and it is a problem. 

In order to get to the core of this teaching, I suggest that we pay attention to Jesus’ expression of being “justified.” What does it mean for one to be justified? In a spiritual sense, it simply means one is right with God. So, the tax collector gets right with God, not the Pharisee in the parable. This self-righteous Pharisee stands before God, trying to be someone worthy who deserves God’s glory based on the fact that he keeps all the precepts. But he’s not getting the true purpose of keeping them. It is not to be morally superior to someone. It is not to be accepted by God. These precepts create a spiritually healthy environment to deepen our encounter with God and our neighbors. These are the boundaries that keep us from harming others and ourselves. These are not the ends but the means to love and serve deeper. 

The tax collector’s approach, on the other hand, isn’t just much about humility. Of course, there’s a bit of humility in his attitude but this sense of humility is with people, not with God. We don’t exercise humility before God. Rather, we’re humbled and awed in God’s presence. The tax collector hasn’t kept the fundamental precepts the Pharisee has followed. He’s very much aware of this as a fact. He has no masks to put on but is completely naked before God. There’s literally not a thing to cover up. The only thing he needs is God’s mercy just to stand in God’s presence. So, he asks, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 

Now, does this mean that we have to follow the tax collector’s approach to God? Not always. What this tells us is not that we should always come to God with guilt as a sinner. This is more about being 100% candid before God. In the tax collector’s case, he is sinful indeed. There’s no virtue in how he earns profits. Yet, he is honest to God. Acknowledging his unskillful behavior of living is the very first step. The next step would be how he doesn’t get stuck in his self-image as a sinner and moves on to live and earn more skillfully without harming others. Jesus is not telling us to play the sinner role always. Would you be happy if the person you love comes to you as a sinner? 

Let’s then imagine what the Pharisee would’ve done differently in his prayer. I think he had his chance if he stopped at “God, I thank you.” Alas, he went much further, “...that I am not like other people…” His identity depends on those who he is not. His happiness depends on their unskillful actions. He can only feel good about himself in comparison to those who cannot keep the precepts. This unskillful behavior of the Pharisee is not something new to our contemporary human relationships. How often do we put down others to feel higher? How is our world so ready to criticize and push down to be better, higher, and greater? Yet, we remain in the same place without growth. In that instant moment of pushing down others, I might feel better about myself but that is a lie. It’s an illusion. 

In God’s presence, we don’t need to be someone. We don’t need to pretend at all. We look at our unskillful behaviors without relating them to who we really are. Our Christian call to be selfless is to lessen our obsession with self. Instead, we focus on our actions that are skillful, beneficial, loving, and compassionate. So, we might start our prayer with the words of the tax collector, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” and end it with “God, I thank you.” How we fill in between is whether we faithfully cultivate our act of love and compassion for our neighbors and ourselves.