Publican and Pharisee

 Today’s Gospel (Luke 18:10-14) has our Lord directing our thoughts (and prayers) with another parable.

In all such instances, we should accept our Lord’s words as being indicative of real-life events, even when they are delivered as parables.  Why?  Because Christ’s teaching is not about nebulous events or people.  He crafts His words to change our hearts from being stony and cold to the place where we can find them molding to His will, and being warm to accepting Him into them.

Today’s parable, like most others, places two people into positions of being at odds with one another.  The Publican is a man hated by the average person on the street because he works for the government, those who are oppressors, occupiers of Israel.  The average Jew wants nothing more than to be freed from the clutches of the Roman Empire.  And the Publican is the Empire’s tie between their treasury and those who are subdued as subjects.

This is in part that which crafts the heart of the Publican towards his state of repentance.  He hates himself for what he is, which for all practical purposes is a traitor to his own people.  And so the Lord describes finding him in the Temple beating his breast in repentance, asking God for forgiveness.  For how many other sins we do not know—perhaps many (like me).  He is filled with such self-judgmentalism that Jesus says that he would not even lift his eyes to heaven.

The Pharisee, on the other hand, judged not himself, but rather the Publican.  Thank You for not making me like THAT man…

Jesus told us, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Publican has heard this message and has taken it to heart.  He has found that place where he understands that his life is a disappointment to his Father, and he wants nothing more than to become a restored son.

The Pharisee doesn’t need a Father.  He is self-sufficient.  “I’m good!  There’s nothing wrong with me.”  And in these attitudes, Jesus proclaims that the Publican went away justified, while the Pharisee was not.

Saint Basil teaches that there are three states through which we can be pleasing to God.  In the first, we fear His punishment, making us acceptable in the state of slaves.  In the second, we are in the state of servants, working for wages, fulfilling orders for our own advantage and in so doing earning our wages.  The third state is that of children, and here we strive for the highest good.  A child—a mature child—does the will of the Father not for fear of being beaten, nor even to receive a reward from Him, but rather because the child knows that he is loved.  And in return, the child loves and honors the Father, convinced that all that is the Father’s is also his as well.

As we are led by the Church to enter this Great Fast, let us take to heart the messages of these Preparatory Sundays, using them to begin to conform ourselves to where the Lord calls us even before the Fast takes its own loving hold of us—for our own good!