Homily 30th Ordinary Sunday: Be merciful to me O Lord, I am a sinful man!

Homily for 30^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C 2016

Sirach 35:12-14, 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18 and Luke 18:9-14

Introduction

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."  Jesus concludes today's parable with these words, words he had also said earlier in the same gospel, when speaking about how to seat oneself at a banquet.  By repeating these words, it seems like Jesus wants his disciples to really get the message about avoiding pride and instead adopting humility.

Scripture and Theology

And so Jesus makes this point in the parable, by reversing the roles and expectations of saint and sinner. The apparently saintly Pharisee comes off badly, while the obviously sinful tax-collector is the hero of the story, who went home justified, in other words, having a right relationship with God.

To understand this parable, we must realize that at the time of Jesus, the Pharisee was the stereotype of a good, honourable and exemplary person.

·        Pharisees were known to be holy people, because they observed the Law of Moses very strictly.  When this particular Pharisee said: “I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous,” that was really true.

·        He even paid tithes, that is, 10% on all his income, to the temple, another sign of fidelity.

·        To top it off, this Pharisee even went the extra mile, fasting twice a week, when he was required to fast perhaps only a couple of times a year.

Hands down, the Pharisee was a good man, a boy scout, as we might say today.

The tax-collector on the other hand is quite a disagreeable character.

·        He didn't fast at all, nor did he give 10% of his money to the temple.

·        On the contrary, he was collecting taxes; few people like tax-collectors, much less those collecting money for a foreign power like the Romans!

·        Besides, many tax-collectors were dishonest, charging more than was required, pocketing the difference for themselves, and taking bribes.

Make no mistake about it; the tax-collector was a bad man.

Why then does Jesus turn things upside down, praising the tax-collector and not the Pharisee, holding up the sinner for imitation and not the saint?

Luke gives a clue at the beginning of the passage, when he says: "Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else."

·        Jesus does not fault the Pharisee for his virtue, but for his pride.  The Pharisee thought that salvation came from merely observing the law rather than from having a relationship with God.  That is why when he came to pray, he came to remind God about his own holiness, just in case God had failed to notice his good deeds!  “God, you should be deeply grateful that you have someone like me (and there are not many of us), someone who is so faithful in following your commands,” he says!  It is that pride and self-conceitedness that Jesus condemns.

·        On the other hand, Jesus does not praise the tax-collector for his sinful life, but for his humility in conversion.  On realizing his sin, this man came to God in complete humility.  When he came to pray, he stood off at a distance, and would not even raise his eyes to heaven.  Rather, he beat his breast praying: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  He was keenly aware of his sinfulness; he was aware that without God he is nothing; he really needed God in his life.  That is why he comes to God begging for him to re-establish their relationship by forgiving him.

And so, the reason the repentant tax-collector is to be admired more than the righteous Pharisee is because, “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Christian Life

Clearly then humility rather than pride is the way of the Christian.  Fortunately the Church has tried to promote humility both inside and outside our temple.

For us Christians, our temple is our worship and liturgy, which tries to promote the kind of prayer of the tax-collector, rather than that of the Pharisee. 

·        That is why we begin mass with the penitential rite, in which we not only confess that we are sinners, but we also ask God for mercy.  In fact, in the “I confess”, we imitate the tax-collector by beating our chest three times saying, "through my fault, through my fault, though my most grievous fault."

·        Later in the Mass, just before we receive communion, again we admit our unworthiness saying: "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

·        There is also the famous Jesus Prayer, used mostly in Eastern Christianity which says: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."  This prayer is said repeatedly to highlight over and over again our essential unworthiness before God.

But our humility must go beyond words of our prayer.  That is why the Church also promotes humility outside the temple, in our day to day life.  That is why Catholic Social teaching gives a preference to the humble and lowly.  As we heard in the Responsorial Psalm, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.  The Lord hears the cry of the poor."

Who are these poor of the Lord, whose cry he hears, whose cry we must hear?  These are the unborn and children, the sick and the elderly, the depressed and the suicidal, the hungry and thirsty, the homeless and the stranger, the prisoner and the condemned, the oppressed and the captive, the refugee and the immigrant, the widow and the orphan, and of course the sinner.  It is no wonder that the bishops' document forming the consciences of Catholics for the election, presents these issues for our consideration. We are asked to show our humility by hearing the cry of the poor, from the unborn to the dying and all in between.

Conclusion

Finally, this twofold approach of the Church, of humble prayer and outreach to the lowly, we must translate into our own personal lives.

·        And so, when we each come to the temple, do we pray with the humility of the tax-collector, placing ourselves before God's mercy?  One particular way to do this is to go to confession at least once a year, the minimum requirement of the Church.  For in confession, we examine our consciences, check the health of our relationship with God and our neighbour, and on finding it lacking in some way, we come to God whom the priest represents and paraphrasing the words of the tax-collector we say: "Forgive me Father for I have sinned."  That is why when Pope Francis was asked who he was, he said, “essentially I am a sinner.”

·        Even more important is our attitude outside the temple, in our daily lives.  Do we hear the cry of the poor around us, whatever kind they might be, or do we, like the Pharisee look down upon them with contempt?  Our humility must be expressed not only before the Lord, because he is God, but also before our fellow man.  For whoever exalts himself (before God and before his fellow man) will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself (before God and before his fellow man) will be exalted.”