GOD, BE MERCIFUL TO ME A SINNER

HOMILY FOR THE 30^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR C

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

St. Luke was methodical in the arrangement of his Gospel narrative. Last Sunday we read about the importance of persistence in prayer. This Sunday we are presented with recommendations of how to offer prayer properly. The first sentence of the Gospel (Luke 18:9-14) clearly spells out the reason that prompted the telling of the parable and the kind of people to whom the parable refers: to those who were so full of themselves that they were over-confident about their own righteousness while looking down their noses at other people. In this parable there are two characters who did the same thing in the same place at the same time, but in different ways. They did the same thing, when they went to pray at the Temple in Jerusalem. The devout Jew observed three periods of prayer daily: 9am, 12pm, and 3pm. Prayer was held to be especially efficacious if it was offered within the Temple courts, and so, at these hours, many went up there to pray. This outline gives us a general understanding of the context of Jesus’ story. 

ONE A PHARISEE

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus to himself. He came very near to the Holy of Holies (it is the location of the tax collector that suggests this), seeing himself as worthy to be in God’s presence. He did not pray to God. True prayer is offered only to God. Rather, he prayed to himself. The Pharisee was parading his goodness and piety before God. He exhibited pride, arrogance and self-righteousness. Looking at the content of his prayer, not only did he disregard God and the tax collector - he disregarded the rest of mankind. By “the rest of mankind” he meant those who were not Pharisees; worse, he perceived and dismissed the whole lot of them as thieves, adulterers, and unjust. Worse still, he contemptuously demonstrated his pride by comparing himself to the tax collector: I am not like this tax collector. Unlike the Pharisee, then, whenever we are tempted to compare ourselves with others, let us compare ourselves with none other than Christ Himself. 

This is the height of the manifestation of the Pharisee’s self-righteousness. Since he prided himself on his strict observance of the Law, he imagined that this practice elevated him to a higher plane in God’s sight. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get. Fasting twice a week was seen as going the extra mile in the observance of the Jewish Law. The Jewish Law prescribed only one absolutely obligatory fast, and that was on the Day of Atonement. However, those who fasted twice a week rumpled their hair, whitened their faces with ash, and went out and about deliberately dishevelled. They did this to demonstrate their piety to all and sundry, so that people would know what they were doing and respect them for it. This Pharisee also paid tithes on all commodities, even though the Law required him to pay tithes on only a few of them. Despite these outward acts of piety, he failed to demonstrate even minimal concern for the sinner behind him in the Temple. With this in mind, we can say that the Pharisee went on to inform God about how wonderful he was because he was keeping to the letter of the Law. His words were words of supererogation. He understood that he did more than was required of him by Law. He must have thought that he had succeeded in convincing God how pious and holy he was - without realising how shameful his words were. In justifying himself to himself, he felt himself to be in no need of God’s free gift of justification. He was mistaken: anyone who exalts himself will be humbled (Luke 14:11). Prayer, then, should not be used as a conduit for self-exaltation. Remember that any one of us could be guilty of being like this Pharisee; we tend to see the evils that abound in the world, and we are tempted to think that we are not participants in them. We pat ourselves on the back and tell ourselves, ah, yes, thank God, I am not like all those others who rob and steal. The truth is, though, that exonerating ourselves from guilt does not make us any better or holier than anyone else.

THE OTHER A TAX COLLECTOR

The tax collector stood some distance away not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven, but he beat his breast… The expression ‘stood some distance away’ helps us to understand that the tax collector saw himself as someone unworthy of communicating with God. The fact that he dared not raise his eyes was an indication of his shame and contrition. He was beating his breast as a sign of his repentance. Then came his petition: God, be merciful to me, a sinner. His is the approach that the committed Christian should follow to approach God, an approach that is encouraged in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. His prayer demonstrated deep humility, repentance and dependence upon God. The tax collector received his longed-for gift of justification, because he recognised his need for God’s mercy and he showed sorrow for his sins. Remember: anyone who humbles himself will be exalted (cf. Luke 14:11). The acknowledgement of our sins in humility isn’t an exercise in making us out to be a worse sinner than anyone else, nor is it a belittling of our humanity, nor is it intended to dent our self-worth before God. What acknowledgement of our sins in humility does do is to make us conscious that attempting to be holy does not preclude our slipping and falling every so often. The journey to holiness requires us to get up after each fall, as Jesus did on the Way of the Cross, and never to give up trying to reach our goal. 

God’s justice and His free gift of justification is given to the lowly, and to those who recognise that they are poor and in need of help. He listens to the humble prayer of the just and the lowly, and He shows no partiality for the rich and the powerful (cf. The First Reading, Sirach 35:12c-14.16-18b). Our prayers, then, should exhibit humility and contrition. Any one of us can be tempted to think that they have done enough good things in order to merit a place in Heaven, but none of us should think that the good things we have done are enough to merit eternal life with God. The humble man’s prayer pierces the cloud [of Heaven]. This coming week and for evermore, I wish you to say the kind of prayer that pierces the cloud. God bless you.