This Sunday's readings for Mass (Oct. 23, 2022) can be read as a contrast between an attitude of haughtiness and one of humility. To make the contrast, Jesus offers a parable looking at a Pharisee and a tax collector. Or, as listeners at the time might say, a respected leader in the Jewish community and a hated cooperator with the Romans. But Jesus flips expectations by celebrating the attitude of the tax collector, who Jesus says is not only justified but also exalted. .JPG) St. Matthew the Apostle is depicted in a window at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rockford, Ill. The bag in his hand represents his life as a tax collector before being called forth as a disciple of Christ. (CNS photo from Crosiers) |
The original audience would have complained that the tax collector did nothing to deserve such a compliment, whereas the Pharisee obeyed the Law and fasted and paid tithes. However, Jesus wants to correct the notion that an individual can do something that contributes to his or her salvation. God saves us, in and through Jesus Christ. It is pure gift. Still, the Pharisee, at that time, would have been praised by others for his tithing and fasting and even for taking pride in his justification: "That's right, my good man, you aren't like other people. You are the perfection of the Law. Take your place in the Temple." Somehow the law of God, which was always meant as a gift for people to use in order to avoid sin and misery, became the key to salvation. The trouble with this idea goes beyond a misunderstanding of the purpose of the law; it's much more serious than that: It forgets God and who God is and who we are in relation to him. A problem still around today. God is all-powerful and all-knowing. He is a mystery that we are able to know by his revelation, as he wills. God offers gifts in perfect freedom and perfect justice. God gives us the freedom to respond. How we respond should correspond to who God is and who we are in relation to him. There is nothing wrong with tithing and fasting; considered by themselves they are good things and worthy to practice. However, it's one thing to tithe and fast out of an attitude of thanksgiving to God or as a discipline to make oneself available in service to others. But if we do so out of a sense of entitlement or with the idea that we are more deserving of salvation than someone else, then we are seriously deluded. How could any human being have any idea about the eternal fate of someone else? We can look at specific actions and judge those actions to be good or evil. We may even have some insight into a person's attitudes. But as to a person's ultimate salvation, and even our own, we are all beggars before God. Does this mean, then, that we should all follow the example of the tax collector? Again, Jesus is more interested in the attitudes of both the tax collector and the Pharisee. We should adopt the tax collector's attitude: One of contrition, of humble prayer, of petition that God be merciful. We can do this from any seat in the church. And we should avoid the attitude of the Pharisee: Self-justification and moral superiority over others. We can do this without giving up tithing and fasting. St. Paul offers a good example. He was convinced that his salvation in Christ was a pure gift and unmerited on his part. He even says of himself that he was the greatest of sinners because he persecuted Christ, and therefore the mercy he received was great. Yet, at the same time, Paul is not ashamed to speak about his victory in Christ and his cooperation with God's mercy: I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. Paul's statements are neither haughty or groveling; they are the truth spoken in humility. He is not suggesting that he has achieved righteousness by his own efforts or that he is better than anyone else. He truthfully acknowledges his gifts. We would be wrong to conclude from Jesus' parable that he wants us to go through life with sad faces, beating our chests, and lamenting our sinful state at every moment. This is not the opposite of self-justification. The opposite is humility - recognizing the truth of our situation, being sorrowful for sin when we commit it, asking for God's forgiveness, and changing in God's grace. Moreover, we can be joyful when we are virtuous, praising God for his mercy and remaining open to his transforming love. Jesus' parable does not remove the call we have to do good works; nor does it mean to keep us in a perpetual mood of wretchedness. The parable calls us to abandon ourselves to God. The first step is to realize that we need God and then to follow through with the effort to listen to and act on God's word. It is a humbling task, perhaps painful at first, but leading to great joy. |
