Posted on 10/23/2016 6:51:43 AM PDT by Salvation
Theres an old saying that goes, Faults in others I can see, but praise the Lord, theres none in me. But one is snared in sin by the very act of claiming to have no sin! In fact, its the biggest sin of all: pride.
In todays Gospel, the Lord illustrates this very point in speaking to us of two men who go to the temple to pray. One man commits the greatest sin of all, pride, and leaves unjustified. The other, though a great sinner, receives the gift of justification through humility. Lets look at what the Lord teaches us.
1. Prideful Premise – Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness. When it comes to parables, it is easy for us gloss over the introductory statement, which often tells us what prompted Jesus to tell the parable. Many people simply see this parable as being about arrogance, but there is more to it than that.
Jesus is addressing this parable to those who are convinced of their own righteousness. They are under the illusion that they are capable of justifying and saving themselves. They think that they can have their own righteousness and that it will be enough to save them.
But there is no saving righteousness apart from Christs righteousness. I do not care how many spiritual pushups you do, how many good works you do, or how many commandments you keep; it will never be enough for you to earn Heaven. On your own you are not holy enough to enter Heaven or to save yourself. Scripture says, One cannot redeem himself, pay to God a ransom. Too high the price to redeem a life; he would never have enough (Psalm 49:8-9).
Only Christ and His righteousness can ever close the gap, can ever get you to Heaven. Even if we do have good works, they are not our gift to God, they are His gift to us. We cannot boast of them because they are His. Scripture says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast. For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10).
The Pharisee in todays parable has a prideful premise: he is convinced of his own righteousness. In his brief prayer, notice that he uses the word I four times.
It is also interesting that the Lord indicates that the Pharisee spoke this prayer to himself. Some think that this merely means that he did not say the prayer out loud. But others suspect that more is at work here, that there is a double meaning, if you will. In effect, the Lord is saying that the Pharisees prayer is so self-centered, so devoid of any true appreciation of God, that it is actually spoken only to himself. He is congratulating himself more than he is praying to God, and his thank you is purely perfunctory and is more for his own prideful self-adulation. He is speaking to himself, all right. He is so prideful that even God cant even hear him!
Hence we see a prideful premise on the part of the Pharisee, who sees his righteousness as his own, as something that he has achieved. He is badly mistaken.
2. Problematic Perspective – and despised everyone else. To despise others means to look down on them with contempt, to perceive them as beneath us. Notice that the Pharisee is glad to report that he is not like the rest of humanity.
Not only is his remark foolish, it is also impertinent. One will not get to Heaven merely by being a little better than someone else. No indeed, being better than a tax collector, prostitute, drug dealer, or dishonest businessman is not the standard we must meet. The standard we must meet is Jesus. He is the standard. Jesus said, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48). Now, somebody say, Lord, have mercy! It is dangerous (and a waste of time) to compare oneself with others because it misses the point entirely.
The point is that we are to compare ourselves to Jesus and be conformed to Him by the work of His grace. Any honest comparison of ourselves to Jesus should make us fall to our knees and cry out for grace and mercy, because it is the only way we stand a chance.
It is so silly, laughable really, to compare ourselves to others. What a pointless pursuit! What a fools errand! What a waste of time! God is very holy and we need to leave behind the problematic perspective of looking down on others and trying to be just a little better than some other poor (fellow) sinner.
Theres a lot of talk today about being basically a nice person. But being nice isnt how we get to Heaven. We get to Heaven by being like Jesus. The goal in life isnt to be nice; the goal is to be made holy. We need to set aside all the tepid and merely humanistic notions of righteousness and come to understand how radical the call to holiness is and how unattainable it is by human effort. Looking to be average, or a little better than others, is a problematic perspective. It has to go; it must be replaced by the Jesus standard.
Lets put it in terms of something we all can understand: money. Lets say that you and I are on our way to Heaven; you have $50, while I have $500. Now I might laugh at you and feel superior to you. I might ridicule you and say, I have ten times as much as you do! But then we get to Heaven and find out the cost to enter is $70 trillion. Oops. Looks like were both going to need a lot of mercy and grace to get in the door. In the end, we are both in the same boat; were both woefully short. All my boasting was a waste of time and quite silly, to boot. We have a task so enormous and unattainable that we simply have to let God grant it and accomplish it for us.
3. Prescribed Practice – But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, O God, be merciful to me a sinner. Given everything we have reflected on, we can only bow our head and cry from the heart, Lord have mercy! Deep humility coupled with lively hope are the only answers.
Being humble isnt something we can do on our own. We have to ask God for a humble and contrite heart. Without this gift we will never be saved. In our flesh, we are just too proud and egotistical. God needs to give us a new heart, a new mind. Notice that the tax collector in todays parable did three things; we should do these things as well:
Beware of pride, our worst enemy. Beg for the gift of humility, for only with it do we even stand a chance.
I have it on the best of authority that as he left the temple, the tax collector sang this spiritual: Its Me, Oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer. In the video below it is sung by a German choir, which explains their unusual pronunciation of the word prayer. I cant complain, though; I dont pronounce Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung (speed limit) very well either!
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church!
Amen!
A great reminder hence, I’m reaching back to an old hymn of the same name: http://www.hymnary.org/text/not_my_brother_nor_my_sister_but_its_me
Thank you.
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