READINGS

Luke 18:9-14

HOMILY

Last time was the parable of the judge, of injustice, and the unfortunate widow. It was about the importance of prayer.

And it followed on from a running with the Pharisees where they had asked him about the coming of the Kingdom.

And he'd given them an answer saying that it was in their midst and then he'd given quite a long talk to his disciples about how to begin to detect that coming, which we missed out because normally that comes just before the end of the church this year, coming up to Advent.

Immediately after that, he starts talking about prayer to them, to the disciples, in the wake of how they've had to deal with the Pharisees.

And now he talks to a new group of people.

This is the only time he talks to this group of people, and it's rather important because he could have said this parable to some Pharisees, or he told this parable to his disciples.

But no - he told also this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.

I'm going to leave that hanging for the moment, because we're going to come back to that at the end, since it's such an absolutely central part of how we find ourselves living our Christian faith now.

But this is what Jesus told these people, and I hope you'll suspend the credulity a little bit and allow me to suggest to you that, actually, this is again one of Jesus's more humorous parables, meaning that it's full of gestures.

And the gestures hint at that even in Greek (but from the Aramaic background) one can tell that place and gesture are important in this.

There's an element of parity going on here that Jesus is using to make a rather significant point.

Two men went up to the temple to pray: one of the Pharisees and the other - a tax collector.

Now Jesus is talking on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem going through the area close to Samaria, so it's probably talking about people like them going up to Jerusalem, which would be a standard pilgrimage route, probably, a couple of times a year at least to go to prey.

So there's something deliberate about this: it's not just they happen to drop in to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel one day.

This is part of something deliberate - going up to the temple.

Then it says - and I'm afraid this is about this translation, but there we are:

the Pharisee standing by himself was praying thus: God etc etc.

Well, once again, it's the King James comes closer to the actual translation, it says:

the Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself: God...

It's nothing to do with him standing by himself, it's praying to himself.

And actually the Aramaic background is our famous 'neck' (sometimes which I translated as 'ass'): he was praying with his neck, in other words - to himself.

That's part of the product suggestion that this is an interior discourse.

Basically, there's no one outside that than his own consideration.

This is part of the parody, of the thing.

Yes, it's a joke.

If you're praying to God, you're not praying to yourself.

Well so he's standing neck high and praying to his neck: God, I thank you - eucharistō - I thank you.

The same verb we have in the Eucharist - that I am not like other people.

In other words, it's all about him.

And who are these other people? Well, thieves.

And let's imagine: he's standing there, and let's imagine these hand gestures, thieves reaching out, rogues...

Actually, the Greek word is just unjust; and the Aramaic says 'profiteers', rogues, profiteers, adulterers.

So thieves reaching out, profiteers bringing to themselves, and adulterers ripping the ring off the finger.

So you can imagine the gestures that the Pharisee is rather splendidly making.

I thank you that I'm not like those.

I fast twice a week and I give a tenth of all my income.

Well, yes, I give a tenth of all that I have got.

(It doesn't say how he's got it, but all that I've got.)

Remember: this is supposed to be a parody, the same word which is used here for income is used quite frequently in the Old Testament for having obtained spoils.

And here's the point: Jesus is giving us a classic example of projection.

He says: I thank you that I'm not like "the thief"; and then he lists precisely some things that was considered to be true of the Pharisees.

they were thieves in the sense they were always looking for ways to take money off people;
they were profiteers, they tried to become the hedge fund managers for widows to make a good profit off them;
they were adulterers: people who granted easy divorces, thus making other people adulterers, but also taking the ring off the people who were unfaithful to the alliance, to the covenant.

Because adultery always has the sense in the Hebrew background both of a particular act of marital misconduct, but also the breaking of the covenant with God.

So here we have this Pharisee who sees what goodness look like.

And remember that these were the people who would have literally be thought to be good.

I give a tenth of all that I've got.

No question of how I got it, but I give a tenth of all that I've got.

I fast twice a week.

In other words, I make myself suffer a little bit and I've got a system of goodness which allows me to know that I am good.

And that's why I'm not like others and - straight into projection - looks at other people: thieves, profiteers, adulterers - and does not see himself, which, of course, is exactly like us.

And there are some people who are vaguely aware that, when they're saying something, they're in fact accusing themselves.

And there are others who are gloriously completely unaware that, at the moment, they accuse someone else of something that is in fact exactly what they're doing or about to do themselves.

This is a classic projection. And Jesus is bringing that out.

But the tax collector standing far off would not even look up to heaven.

In other words, where is his neck? his neck is hidden.

but he was beating his breast and saying: God be merciful to me a sinner.

This phrase is so familiar to us that we forget that that's the only time that word is used in this sense in Luke's Gospel.

This is the basis as, I understand, of the Jesus' prayer: God be merciful to me, a sinner.

This is the only place where that verb is used in that sense in Luke's gospel.

He uses other words for mercy throughout his gospel.

It is famously the gospel of mercy.

And this is like the combination of his teaching on mercy where he uses this verb: God be merciful to me, a sinner.

Jesus then says: I tell you, this man went down to his home justified, rather than the other.

Why should that be? why the mention of a tax collector? let's remember: all societies have tax collectors.

A tax collector is a necessary evil in all societies that have taxes, which is all societies.

A tax collector of whatever degree in Hebrew society at the time was someone who had made some sort of deal with a 'tax farm', unless he was actually the owner of the 'tax farm', but he's a person who would have bought the right to farm the taxes of a certain region for a certain amount of money.

The Romans would have said: okay we estimate that that region is worth 80.000 dollars in a year. If you farm, we will expect 70.000 from you.

You can buy the rights for seventy thousand which means that you will lower 70.000 a year.

Anymore you make towards the eighty thousand, that's your profit.

It's cheaper for us to outsource to you than it is to set up a team of tax collectors for ourselves.

So a tax collector was an outsourced tax collector for the Romans and was thoroughly hated.

----> Always let's say held in dubious regard, whether it was the person's reputation was likely to be poor.

But - and here's the thing - the tax collectors actually did not have a system of goodness.

On the contrary, tax collectors, actually, had a very vulnerable life, because:

people hated them so that always makes your life not a bundle of fun;
although they were probably rich and therefore there was some worth to be got from that, they were terribly vulnerable to changes in harvests and the like.

Once the Romans had fixed their sum (let's say eighty thousand dollars for this area), the tax collector owed them seventy thousand year in year out independently or whether it was a good harvest, a bad harvest, whether there was a hail storms that destroyed the crops etc.

In other words, the tax collector was gonna have to come up with that amount of money anyhow.

So it's no surprise that the tax collector would try to take more in the good years so as to prepare himself for the bad years in case he needed to pay off debt.

So it wasn't only profiteering that caused tax collectors to be - let's say - somewhat herbaceous.

It wasn't just profiteering, it was an attempt to balance their books between good years and bad years.

In other words, the classic bad guy, but the bad guys with some vulnerability, not belonging to a system of goodness, utterly dependent, if you like, on the weather, on acts of God in the broadest sense.

And so he comes down.

He doesn't speak to his 'throat', he speaks to his 'heart':

he beats his breast and says to God: be merciful to me, a sinner.

He does not have regard in his own eyes, no regard for himself in his own eyes.

And so then Jesus says at the end:

all who exalt themselves, will be humbled, but all have humbled themselves, will be exalted.

You'll be glad to hear that all who exalt their 'throats', their selves, their 'asses', will be humbled, and all who humble their 'throats', themselves, will be exalted.

So it's all the physical movements are in this parable as well, it's the humorous element and then the very very touching element as well.

Now let's go back to the first verse of our Gospel for the day, which is the most difficult, first because this is where we ask ourselves whether we, who are neither formerly Pharisees nor formerly tax collectors, I imagine.

And, if we are tax collectors, it's very unlikely that we're tax farmers in the old, in the old Roman sense.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.

How much of Christianity today is exactly this:

self-justification by faith on the Evangelical side;
self-justification by Church on the Catholic side.

"Because I am right, because I have been saved by Jesus, I can judge all the other people, because the Bible gives me permission to do so; or because I am right because I'm a Catholic, and I am on the inside of the church, I can judge all the people whom the Church disapproves of".

And please remember: there is no such thing as these two being separated.

If you trust in yourself that you are righteous, then automatically you're defining yourself over against others with contempt.

You may not realize it, but that's how we get a fake identity.

How do we get a fake identity? over against others.

Once you start to realize that you are like others, then you lose that fake goodness, and you find yourself coming awfully close to the position whereby you realize: oh my God, I am a sinner, have mercy on me.

And it's one - and I know, this is no longer popular because pop psychology keeps on telling people to forget about sin and so on, and so forth - of the reasons why the term sinner is such a good thing.

To be able to say genuinely, not out of formulating "I am a sinner", and for that to be a sign of having been relaxed into not having to define yourself over against others, that is an extraordinary blessing.

And is the sign indeed of being made right with God.

God is forgiving us by revealing to us that we are sinners, and that's okay: being a sinner is not the problem.

Fake virtue is far more terrifying. That's it. People who consider themselves righteous and simultaneously regard others with contempt.

We must encourage a return of Christianity that understands this, that we're being able to dwell in shame tenderly.

To know that we're also sinners (and therefore find ourselves being realigned to God) is the norm, rather than creating a structure of security for ourselves, which depends on wicked others whom we can despise.

SUMMARY

11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.

In Aramaic, it actually says: prayed with himself. He was praying to his neck. There's no one outside that than his own consideration. A joke :P

Jesus is giving us a classic example of projection. He says I thank you that I'm not like.

Then he lists precisely some things that was considered to be true of the Pharisees:

They were thieves;
They were profiteers;
They were adulterers (taking the ring off the people who were unfaithful to the alliance, to the covenant).

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

He doesn't even look to heaven. In other words, where is his 'neck'? Hidden. He doesn't speak to his 'neck', but to his heart.

He has no regard for himself in his own eyes.

The phrase ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ is the only time it is used in this sense in Luke's Gospel.

This is he culmination of Luke's teaching on mercy, in which he uses this verb: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.

The tax-collector is a person who would have bought the right to farm the taxes of a certain region for a certain amount of money. So he was an outsourced tax collector for the Romans and was thoroughly hated.

His reputation was likely to be poor. However, the tax collectors actually did not have a system of goodness (unlike the Pharisee). On the contrary, tax collectors actually had a very vulnerable life, because people hated them and, although they were probably rich and therefore there was some worth to be got from that, they were terribly vulnerable to changes in harvests.

So it wasn't only profiteering that caused tax collectors to be somewhat herbaceous, but an attempt to balance their books between good and bad years.

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

All who exalt their 'neck', their selves, their 'asses', will be humbled; whereas who humble their 'throats' will be exalted.

So all the physical movements are in this parable as well.

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:

How much of Christianity today is exactly this: it's self-justification by faith on the Evangelical side and self-justification by Church on the Catholic side. Because I've been saved by Jesus, I can judge all the other people. Because I'm right, I'm a Catholic, and I'm on the inside of the church, I can judge all the people whom the Church disapproves of.

If you trust in yourself that you are righteous, then automatically you're defining youself over against others with contempt.

You may not realize it, but that's how we get a fake identity.

How do we get a fake identity? Over against others.

Once you start to realize that you are like others, then you lose that fake goodness, and you find youself coming awfully close to the position whereby you realize: oh my God, I am a sinner, have mercy on me.

And it's one of the reasons why the term sinner is such a good thing. To be able to say 'I'm a sinner', and for that to be a sign of having been relaxed into not having to define youself over against others, that is an extraordinary blessing. And is the sign indeed of being made right with God.

And that's ok. Being a sinner is not the problem,. Fake virtue is far more terrifying. That's it. People who consider themselves righteous and simultaneously regard others with contempt.

Being able to dwell in shame tenderly, and so know us also sinners and therefore find ourselves being realigned to God is the norm, rather than creating a structure of security for ourselves, which depends on wicked others whom we can despise.