Who Is Accepted By God?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Sunday, October 27, 2019

For regular churchgoers, whenever you hear the word “Pharisee” you probably have a negative impression of the Pharisees. We think of them as the bad guys who opposed and crucified Jesus. But in Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were the good guys. They were the Jewish religious leaders respected by many. They were the leaders of the society. They were the ones that people followed and listened to. In the minds of Jesus’ listeners, the Pharisees were good. On the other hand, tax collectors were considered bad by all and sundry. Why? After the Roman empire conquered Israel, the people of Israel were mandated to pay taxes to Rome. To ensure that taxes were collected, the Roman government hired local people— Jews, to collect taxes. So, tax collectors were Jewish men who were in charge of collecting taxes from the Jews and sending them to the Romans who were oppressing the Jews. Now, tax collectors did not only collect the required amount, but also collected more for themselves as well. Of course, they had the Roman soldiers that protected them as they exploited their own people. After remitting the required amount to the Roman government, the surplus was divided among themselves (tax collectors and soldiers). This made most of the tax collectors rich and corrupt. Unfortunately for them, everyone in the community knew about their corruption and wickedness. Fellow Jews hated and despised them because they were working for their oppressors—the Romans, and also enriching themselves from it. 

In today’s Gospel (Luke 18:9-14), Jesus told a story that will shock “those who were convinced of their own righteousness,” who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and then looked down on others with contempt. The story is about two men who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee (seen by many as good), and the other, a tax collector (seen by many as bad). After taking his position, the pharisee prayed, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity— greedy, dishonest, adulterous— or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” Meanwhile, the tax collector standing from a distance and refusing to look up to heaven beat his chest and prayed, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Concluding his story, Jesus said that it was the tax collector who went home justified and not the pharisee. “For  whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

When the Pharisee got into the temple, did he pray to God? No! Jesus said he spoke the prayer to himself and not to God. There are many things he could have prayed about. He could choose to pray for wisdom or for the grace to be holy and to honor God. He could have confessed his sins. He started his prayer well “O God, I thank you…” but then ruined it when he declared himself better than the rest of humanity and most especially the tax collector. In essence, he is saying that he is morally good, not like other evil people. Not corrupt. Don’t take money from other people. Not an adulterer. That he is sexually pure. That he is not a bad man, but a good person. He is simply saying, “Thank you God for I am so good, not like that sinful tax collector over there. I fast and pay tithes on all my income.” 

Sisters and brothers, fasting is good. Paying tithes is equally good. The Pharisee is the kind of man that every pastor will like to have as a church member. He is a moral man. He keeps all the church’s laws. Fulfills all the holy days of obligation and gives 10 percent of all his income as tithes. He has the right relationship with the opposite sex. He is not corrupt. He is respected by all. He is a good church folk. But here is the problem with his prayer. It is all about himself, and not about God. The focus of his prayer is who he is and what he’s done. It has nothing to do with what God has done for him or who God is. He is a proud and arrogant man. The center of the world is him, not God. Although he mentions God in his prayer, but it is not about God, but himself. He has one audience— himself. 

What about the tax collector? No one likes the tax collector. He’s the one that when he walks into a room, everyone looks at him with disdain. Now he goes to the temple. The people in the temple are probably the very people he is using the Roman soldiers to extort and steal money from. So, he stood far off, away from people, not minding them and what they think about him. The tax collector has one audience— God. He stands there, beats his chest (a sign of remorse), and refuses to look up to heaven or look around to avoid distraction. He bends his head and prays—“O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” What kind of person is the tax collector? He is humble! Did he say something about himself in this prayer? Yes! He said he is a sinner who needs one thing from God— mercy! 

From worldly perception, the tax collector has power, money and wealth. But what does he not have? God’s approval! He knows he has done wrong. He knows he is under God’s judgment and knows that God does not approve of his behavior. He knows it and does not make excuses for his sins. On the other hand, the Pharisee who is confident that God accepts and approves him fails to realize that pride, arrogance and looking down on others is sinful. To belittle others is to belittle God who is also in them. In the end, it is the tax collector who went home with God’s approval and acceptance. So, who will be accepted by God? It is the humble one. Has the Pharisee done some good and moral things? Yes! But will God accept those who have done some good and moral things nevertheless lack humility? Today’s Gospel says no. Only the humble will be exalted. A proud Christian does not know the God he or she claims to be serving. If in Jesus God the Creator humbled himself, became one of us in all things except sin, who do you think you are to exalt yourself above everyone else?