By Reverend Katherine Elsner
The Tax Collector and the Pharisee
(Luke 18: 9-14)
In the last two weeks, Mary Keldermans and Jerry Bauman have each preached wonderful homilies about prayer. Again, today’s gospel relates a well-known story about prayer. For those of us who were raised in the Catholic faith or probably in any Christian denomination, we remember this story. It’s about a Tax Collector and a Pharisee as they both present themselves in the temple for prayer.
To provide a little historical background: the story takes place during the Roman empire that charged taxes for all people. The Romans enlisted the Jewish people to collect taxes from the Jews, and then sent these taxes to Rome. For the Jewish community the process worked this way: tax collectors were Jewish men who collected
the prescribed amount of tax for the Romans. Tax collectors were also allowed to charge and to keep an additional amount from each household. This led to tax collectors not only getting rich from their own people, but also being hated by their own people. The other person in this story is a Pharisee, a religious leader who was considered worthy of God’s graces because of his performance of religious duties in the Jewish temple. However, the Pharisee thought he had earned the right to demean others whom he considered to be lower than himself.
Let’s take look at the prayers of these two people:
**to whom is each person praying?
**and, what is each person praying for?
First: to whom is each person praying:
The Pharisee said: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even this tax collector.” Hmmm, is that a prayer TO God???
Then he continues: “I fast twice a week and I donate a tenth of all I collect.” Regarding this passage, I read about it (and confirmed with Bob) that Jewish people were & still are asked to fast only once a year on Yom Kippur. However, the Pharisee said he fasted twice a week;
wow, that’s a big difference! It is likely that he would have fasted on Mondays & Thursdays which were the market days in the towns, filled with people who came to town to shop. He could be seen by many people on these days, as he performed his religious duties in the temple. Also, notice in this prayer, the Pharisee uses the pronoun “I”
multiple times. It surely does not sound like a prayer to God;
It sounds like he is praying to himself!
What about the tax collector? Who is he praying to?
The tax collector prayed: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
Now that sounds like a prayer spoken directly to God.
“God, have mercy on me.”
Next, what was each person praying for?
**Hmm, the Pharisee was grateful 1)that he was better than the tax collector, and 2) that he fasted and 3)that he tithed.
He gave no indication of praying FOR anything!
**What did the tax collector pray for? Mercy! Clear & simple.
He prayed straight forward for mercy because
he acknowledged he was a sinner.
There’s no doubt about what the tax collector prayed for.
Lastly in the gospel, Luke tells us the lesson of this parable:
“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled.
While those who are humble will be exalted.”
I found a commentary by the author Tom Constable,
who sums up the two prayers this way: “The tax collector did not boast of his own righteousness, but pleaded with God for mercy, acknowledging his sin. He used God as the standard of righteousness
and confessed that he fell short. He knew that his only hope was God’s mercy. On the other hand, the Pharisee felt no need and voiced no petition, whereas the tax collector felt nothing but need
and voiced only petition.”
The author went on to say : “Ironically both men got what they prayed for. **The tax collector humbly asked for mercy, and he received it.
**The Pharisee asked for nothing because he thought
that he already had it all, and he received nothing.”
So, what can we learn from this parable: As I’ve mentioned before in other homilies, Jesus is again telling a story that was outside the box
of what many people would have presumed to be true back-in-the-day. That is, the Pharisee was the religious person & seemingly deserving of honor and respect for his righteousness. However, Jesus turned the table and pointed out that the tax collector was the humble one because he was the one who prayed TO God, and he prayed FOR mercy. The tax collector also prayed with humility. Yes, the roles were reversed because Jesus pointed out that the one whom people should expect to be a model of prayer did not pray to God, and did not pray for anything. While the one who was hated for collecting taxes & cheating his own people, was exemplified as the person who humbly prayed to God and asked for a quality he really needed.
Similarly to the Pharisee, do we have any religious leaders or political leaders in our day who might come to mind in regard to this parable?
It’s a valid question, but we are Not going there today.
Today’s gospel provides an interesting aspect for us
to consider for our own prayers:
*Who/what is our prayer about?
*Who are we praying to?
*What are we praying for?
These are aspects that I have never before thought about using
for reflection for my own prayer life. This parable reverses the roles of who is to be exalted and who is to be humbled.
We know that humility is a hard concept to comprehend.
I think what we have heard today could be a concrete way for us to think about our own prayer life and to think about the quality of humility in our prayer.
This week I invite us to think of a prayer that is modeled on the prayer of the tax collector. It could be short like his prayer, or it could be longer.
The purpose is not to feel guilty about our lives. True reflection does not have the purpose of placing guilt on a person. Rather, true reflection can be a way to discover something old OR something new about ourselves by naming an issue that we haven’t thought about before, or a problem with which we’ve struggled, or a surprising aspect that comes to mind when we set aside some time to ponder it. I think this will be reasonable for each of us to do because I think we are already humble pray..ers, because we each have spent substantial time in reflection so as to arrive at Holy Family in the first place.
Here is my invitation for the week: to reflect about and create a short or long humble sincere prayer by using the questions that were raised from today’s gospel. First, think of a topic. Let’s each take a moment;
think of something that we ourselves would like to pray about.
The goal is not to create a perfect prayer. The goal is not to make us feel guilty. The goal is to reflect on how we can humbly relate to God
so as to further develop our relationship with God. It’s another way to sit with God, to be with God, in humble prayer. I’ll repeat our reflection questions for consideration this week as we create our own prayer to God, about the topic we chose today or perhaps another topic that rises up within us during the week.
For a quick review of our homework for the week:
We want to choose something meaningful for ourselves
to prayer about. Include Who we are praying to.
And What we are praying for in our prayer.
Amen, Holy Family!
Now consider sending your prayer to Maria Kerwin for the bulletin.
YOUR NAME will be NOT be listed with your prayer.
Sharing your reflection provides humble prayers that others will appreciate.
Thank you,
Rev. Katherine Elsner
Holy Family Inclusive Catholic Community