October 23, 2022: Sunday in Ordinary Time

“Constructed under Self-imposed Humility”

Jeremiah 14: 17-22/ Psalm 84/2 Timothy 6-8; 16-18/Luke 18: 9-14

Bishop Ariel P. Santos

The gospel today is a very familiar story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. St. Luke said that the reason Jesus told the story is because He wanted to address the attitude of certain people who trusted their own goodness and righteousness. Because they think they are good, they look down on others thinking themselves are better.

The Pharisees are respected people. They were looked up to as they were moral, virtuous, faithful, committed and generous, and sacrificial. They were a very good example of what a child of God should be. The tax collectors worked for the Roman government who oppressed the Israelites. They imposed on them heavy taxes. On top of this, the tax collectors took advantage of their positions by adding more taxes that went to their pockets. This attitude was detested by the Israelites. Jews looked down on these Jewish tax collectors. To them, they were immoral, dishonest, and despicable in the eyes of the people.

Looking at this, the Pharisee had a reasonable basis for looking down at the tax collector. We have known of corrupt people who stole big amounts from the government. We have looked down on them and admittedly, we were like the Pharisee who had tithed and who was committed in the Church. Maybe we are right in our thinking that we are better than others. The Pharisee was right in being a faithful child of God as compared to the tax collector.

I wish we could emulate the example of the Pharisee. He said, “I fast twice a week.” We have a Fast and Prayer every Friday wherein the money that should be used for a meal that Friday noon will be given towards the Church building. This is only a once a week and one meal only and there is the invitation to participate. The Pharisee tithed. I wish that those who earn an income, would give their tithe. The Pharisee doesn’t deceive or commit adultery. All the things that he was doing, we should follow and imitate.

On the other hand, the dishonesty of the tax collector is something we should not follow. How come was it that the tax collector came home justified rather than the Pharisee? In the eyes of the listeners of Jesus then, that was shocking, radical, and in some cases unacceptable. It was all about the attitude. The Pharisee considered himself as righteous, holy as compared to the tax collector. All that the tax collector could say was, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

There is nothing wrong with the righteousness, the goodness and the piety of the Pharisee. If we are like him in this area, continue to grow in our faithfulness. But never think that our goodness, our giving of ourselves to God and to serve others earns us God’s favor than others. Another thing, don’t look down on others who don’t measure up to our standard and example. No matter how right we are in thinking that we are better, never despise others. Why? Because they are brethren.

St. Paul says in Romans 12:3, “Don’t think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.” Philippians 2:3, St. Paul says, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important (better) than yourselves.” Whether we are right or wrong, whether they are really better or not or whether they are really more important or not, consider others as more important. Jesus says with regards to sin, think of other’s sin as a speck and think of our sin as a log. Our attitude is that we are the greatest sinner. Jesus is the One person who has the right to say He is better. Yet, He humbled Himself and serve and lifted up others.

It is very radical and shocking for Jesus to say that the tax collector, in the eyes of God, is more acceptable that the Pharisee. The question is: are their cases in our lives where we could not accept that God would justify and forgive criminals and people who are guilty of heinous crimes? If we hear that they repent and publicly say that they are sorry for their offenses, what would be our reaction? Is it acceptable to us? Do we look at them as people who are repentant? We may be right, but it doesn’t matter. Our attitude should be is to accept them and rejoice for God forgives them.

In Luke 17:3-4, Jesus said, “Watch yourselves! If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” Jesus instructs us to forgive people even if we see they are not sincere in their repentance. In another instance, Jesus said to forgive seventy times seven. Jesus forgives the sin of anyone. Before we were born and even sinned, God already forgave us. This is our example. We should not choose who to forgive; forgive everyone!

If we think someone is lower than us or more sinful than us, somebody else will think this about us. There is always someone better than us. The one person to say that He is the only one that is holy, never asserts Himself; instead, He serves and lifts up people. Jesus also tells us to correct one who has sinned against us. Some has moralized, pontificate, boycott in the disguise of principle.

We may be right in pointing fingers, nonetheless, Jesus says not to despise such people because they are brothers and like us, a servant of the Lord. St. Paul says in Romans, “Who are we to judge the servant of another?” Like us, St. Paul was a servant of God. To his own master, he stands or falls. Eventually, he will stand, just like us, because the Lord is able to make him stand.

In Romans 14:8, 10, “Whether we live (in obedience) or die (in disobedience), we are the Lord’s. So why do you judge or despise your brother?” We die because we are sinful, but death is the end for us because God forgives sin, even beyond death. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and His mercy – not death, not life, not things present or things to come. Man dies because of sin, but Jesus has conquered death. The sting of death has overcome. I am not saying to continue to sin, but whether we live or die, whether we are holy or not, we are the Lord’s. We are all saved by the Lord. If this is the case, St. Paul asks why do we judge our brother? Why do we despise and look down on them?

All of us have sinned and gone astray but except for God’s mercy, we will not be saved. Our own righteousness will never save us. We are all like in the quicksand. If we say that our brethren are sinners, who are we to say that because we are all sinking in the quicksand. All of us need someone outside of the quicksand to pull us out. All of us need a Savior. It is not about our righteousness that will save.

We are not to judge, but instead, as it says in Romans 14:19, “Pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” Romans 14:1 says, “Accept the one who is weak in faith, but don’t pass judgment.” We were not called to point fingers at others, but to accept those who are weak in faith. Our strong faith has a purpose, that is, to help those who are weak. Don’t pass judgement. Help; don’t judge.

This reminds us of the story of the prodigal son. The older brother is like the Pharisee and the younger brother is like the tax collector. The older brother stayed in the house of the father and served him for many years. The prodigal son insulted the culture at that time because he said to his father that he doesn’t love him and he can’t wait for him until he dies, so he asked for his share of inheritance and left his father. The older brother considered his younger brother unrepentant, but it didn’t matter to the father. The father accepted his younger son. During the feast, the younger son was justified, just like the tax collector. The older brother was not able to partake of the feast not because he was a bad man, but because he couldn’t accept the forgiveness of the father.

What will forfeit the blessings of God is our unforgiveness. We are much better off “sinning” but coming to God confident that He will forgive us. Will we accept our brothers no matter how sinful they are or will we choose to boycott it and not partake of the blessings?

In the Parable of the Vineyard, those who worked on the last hour was given the same amount of wages as those who labored for twelve hours. Jesus says to ask, “Watch ourselves and don’t fall into the trap.” Those who worked for one hour rejoiced over what they had; those who worked for twelve hours were not happy in the midst of being given their wages, their blessing.

What matters in the kingdom is love of God and neighbor, not being right or better. Think solidarity, not superiority. The Christmas song “Hark the Herald” says, “Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” Why is there peace? God, the Holiest of the holy, and sinners, the scum of earth, are reconciled. There is peace when we forgive and accept the sinners, and this is the way it is in the kingdom of our God.