Homily for the 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Oct. 23, 2022. Luke 18:9-14. Theme: Sincerity & Truth
As the father of 6, grandfather of 6 and uncle to somewhere over 40 and counting, I have had the privilege of watching an array of human beings grow from infants into children and then young adults. What a joyful marvel it is to see such a mix of personalities, each one uniquely created by God. And yet, there can be a bit of sadness mixed into it every so often, when I see one or the other of them trying to re-invent themselves into someone whom they are not but whom they think others want them to be.
I suppose there’s that temptation within all of us no matter who we are or what our age in life might be. We often seem to spend so much time and energy putting forth a false self to others, reimagining ourselves into what we think will make us more pleasing, or more lovable, or more admired.
We see this happening in today’s gospel when both the Pharisee and the tax collector go to the Temple to pray. One stands proudly and presents his falsely-imagined self before God, while the bows his true-self down before the Lord in sincerity and truth.
The Pharisee speaks of himself and his religious achievements, pretending to be someone who is a perfect and devout believer in every way. He thinks he can refashion himself even in God’s eyes in order to make himself look better than he really is!
On the other hand, the tax collector goes to the temple and prays honestly. Unlike the Pharisee, he does not try to conceal who he really is or put on a mask to hide his real self from God. He is able to see and accept himself clearly. The Tax Collector is not trying to fool God or put on false airs. We see his sincerity and self-awareness in his prayer, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Therefore, God meets him where he is and lifts him up.
Jesus says that the Tax Collector goes home justified while the Pharisee returns home still bound by his sins and hiding behind his masquerade.
The story begins with the word “righteousness” and ends with the word “justified”, two important religious terms that actually mean the same thing. And they are the fundamental lesson of this parable. To be justified means that we have been freed from the guilt of our sins and have been put into a right relationship with God. To be righteous means that we have come to realize that yes, we are sinners, but we are loved-sinners who reflect the goodness of God. And this points us to the big difference between the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
The Pharisee lives life with God as an obligation. To him, religion was a labor to always do the right thing so as not have the wrath of God fall down upon him because of his sins. This idea rests upon an image of God as a just and angry judge who controls people through fear. The Tax Collector, on the other hand, sees life with God as a relationship of creature to Creator, of servant to Lord, of sinner to Savior. And so he humbly bows down in a true admission of who and what he is in God’s sight. His prayer expresses trust in a God who is merciful and whose love overrides his own sins. It is the polar opposite of “religion as rules”.
I think that Jesus is saying to us in this parable that we have nothing to fear in approaching God just as we are, in all sincerity and truth. In fact, this is the correct way to approach the Lord. Otherwise we block him out from our lives because we are so full of ourselves that there is no room for him! Like the Tax Collector we have to humbly admit our own nothingness and spiritual emptiness before God. When we do this and fully admit who and what we are, we can then begin to realize that yes, we are sinners, but we are each loved-sinners, and that love makes all the difference in the world! It leads us to a path of freedom and to conversion of heart, inviting us to really embrace a true and full relationship with God both in this world and in the next.
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