Dear Parishioners,

This week’s Gospel story of the Pharisee and the tax collector is such an interesting one to me.

So, the scripture begins… “Two people go up to the temple area to pray.” First there’s the Pharisee who goes on and on about all his accomplishments. He boasts about his superiority - how he is not greedy or dishonest like the rest his neighbors. Especially like the tax collector who is standing a short distance from him and is there to do the same thing, pray.

We then hear from the tax collector, “O God be merciful to me a sinner.” That is all he says. He offers no excuses, for he knows he has done much to offend the law. He doesn’t even approach the temple or raise his head as he is weighed down by the burden of sin.

So what is the essential contrast? What is the drastic difference between the two? The one feels all he has done are his own accomplishments, his own doings. Not once realizing the true nature of his blessings result from God’s grace and mercy. Whereas the tax collector relies entirely on the mercy of God. He leaves everything to God, offering only his sincere sorrow. He knows his saving grace is only from God.

In my opinion, this parable is not about self-righteousness vs. humility. But rather God’s response - He alone can judge the human heart and justify the sinful. In a perfect world, the Pharisee would have reached out to the tax collector to encourage him to express an outward of faith and the tax collector would have encouraged the Pharisee to a greater reliance on God!