Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteousness, who looked down on others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all my income to the temple.’
In the meantime, the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’
I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”
Reflection:
Acknowledge our shortcomings before God.
A significant difference between the Pharisee and the tax collector lay in their attitudes toward the Law. The Pharisee believed that his observance of it – through his lifestyle, livelihood, and ascetic practices – justified him and marked him as righteous in the eyes of God. In contrast, the tax collector, fully aware of his wretchedness, did not expect deliverance from the Law. Thus, he humbly mustered the only prayer he could utter: ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’
The tax collector's prayer resembles the cry of the anawim, the truly and utterly poor before God. Sandra M. Schneiders states that the anawim have no appeal except to God’s mercy. They do not require any defense before God because they make to God the only appeal that God is powerless to resist: “Lord, have mercy.”
Today, we seek grace to emulate the tax collector from our Gospel reading: to acknowledge our shortcomings before God and have the audacity, courage, and humility to plead for divine mercy.
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