The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
October 28, 2007

Readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1: Sir. 35:12–14, 16–18

Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 34:2–3, 17–18, 19, 23

Reading 2: 2 Tim. 4:6–8, 16–18

Gospel: Lk. 18:9–14

Link to Readings

By Saint Augustine and Pope John Paul II

But to you it is not said, Be anything less than you are; but acknowledge what you are. Acknowledge yourself feeble, acknowledge yourself man, acknowledge yourself a sinner; acknowledge that it is He That justifies, acknowledge that you are full of stains. Let the stain of your heart appear in your confession, and you shall belong to Christ’s flock. For the confession of sins invites the physician’s healing; as in sickness, he that says, “I am well,” seeks not the physician.

Did not the Pharisee and the Publican go up to the temple? The one boasted of his sound estate, the other showed his wounds to the Physician. For the Pharisee said, “I thank You, O God, that I am not as this publican.” He gloried over the other. So then if that publican had been whole, the Pharisee would have grudged it him; for that he would not have had any one over whom to extol himself. In what state then had he come, who had this envious spirit? Surely he was not whole; and whereas he called himself whole, he went not down cured.

But the other, casting his eyes down to the ground, and not daring to lift them up unto heaven, smote his breast, saying,” God be merciful to me a sinner.” And what says the Lord? “Verily I say unto you, that the publican went down from the temple justified rather than the Pharisee. For every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

They, then, who exalt themselves, would go up into the sheepfold by another way; but they who humble themselves, enter in by the Door into the sheepfold. Therefore said He of the one, “he enters in”; of the other, “he goes up.” He that goes up, you see, who seeks exaltation, does not enter in, but falls. Whereas he that abases himself, that he may enter in by the Door, falls not, but is the shepherd.

(From St. Augustine's Sermon 87 on the New Testament)

Our Sin and God's Mercy

. . . . In this context, appropriate allowance is made both for God’s mercy towards the sinner who converts and for the understanding of human weakness. Such understanding never means compromising and falsifying the standard of good and evil in order to adapt it to particular circumstances. It is quite human for the sinner to acknowledge his weakness and to ask mercy for his failings; what is unacceptable is the attitude of one who makes his own weakness the criterion of the truth about the good, so that he can feel self-justified, without even the need to have recourse to God and his mercy. An attitude of this sort corrupts the morality of society as a whole, since it encourages doubt about the objectivity of the moral law in general and a rejection of the absoluteness of moral prohibitions regarding specific human acts, and it ends up by confusing all judgments about values.

Instead, we should take to heart the message of the Gospel parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (cf. Lk. 18:9–14). The tax collector might possibly have had some justification for the sins he committed, such as to diminish his responsibility. But his prayer does not dwell on such justifications, but rather on his own unworthiness before God’s infinite holiness: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Lk. 18:13). The Pharisee, on the other hand, is self-justified, finding some excuse for each of his failings. Here we encounter two different attitudes of the moral conscience of man in every age. The tax collector represents a “repentant” conscience, fully aware of the frailty of its own nature and seeing in its own failings, whatever their subjective justifications, a confirmation of its need for redemption. The Pharisee represents a “self-satisfied” conscience, under the illusion that it is able to observe the law without the help of grace and convinced that it does not need mercy.

All people must take great care not to allow themselves to be tainted by the attitude of the Pharisee, which would seek to eliminate awareness of one’s own limits and of one’s own sin. In our own day this attitude is expressed particularly in the attempt to adapt the moral norm to one’s own capacities and personal interests, and even in the rejection of the very idea of a norm. Accepting, on the other hand, the “disproportion” between the law and human ability (that is, the capacity of the moral forces of man left to himself) kindles the desire for grace and prepares one to receive it. “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” asks the Apostle Paul. And in an outburst of joy and gratitude he replies: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:24–25).

We find the same awareness in the following prayer of Saint Ambrose of Milan: “What then is man, if you do not visit him? Remember, Lord, that you have made me as one who is weak, that you formed me from dust. How can I stand, if you do not constantly look upon me, to strengthen this clay, so that my strength may proceed from your face? When you hide your face, all grows weak (Ps. 104:29): if you turn to look at me, woe is me! You have nothing to see in me but the stain of my crimes; there is no gain either in being abandoned or in being seen, because when we are seen, we offend you. Still, we can imagine that God does not reject those he sees, because he purifies those upon whom he gazes. Before him burns a fire capable of consuming our guilt (cf. Joel 2:3).”

(From John Paul II's encyclical Veritas Splendor, nos. 104–105)

Saint Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430) is a Doctor of the Church. Among his most influential works are his autobiographical Confessions and his defense of Christianity against paganism, City of God. For a biography of St. Augustine from The Catholic Encyclopedia, click here.

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) was Pope from 1978 until his death in 2005. The Vatican website provides a myriad of resources pertaining to our beloved Holy Father.

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