Throughout the many different cultures that we find around the world, we hear many stories and fairytales that include characters who are different than they originally appear. I’m not just talking about those stories that center around a mistaken identity or dressing up as someone different. Sometimes a character will start out appearing as a good guy or a bad guy, but by the end, they prove to be the exact opposite.
I’m reminded of the classic fairytale of Beauty and the Beast. Whether you are a fan of the Disney version or another version, you probably remember that the Beast is hardly in contention for being a good guy at the beginning of the story. He is a big scary beast who lives in a dark castle and captures travelers who lose their way in his woods. When each of us first heard that story, we were convinced that the Beast was an evil villain who needed to be vanquished. By the end, however, we realize that he is a very kind and loving character.
If you remember the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the title character goes the other way, going from good to evil. At first he seems to be kind and helpful, offering to spin straw into gold to save the life of a young woman. By the end he becomes evil, however, trying to take the woman’s child as payment for his help. Only by guessing his name is she able to spare her child, and that takes a little trickery of her own.
The Gospel tells a tale about two people: a tax collector and a Pharisee. We have gotten so used to hearing this parable and knowing what the outcome is, I think it is easy to forget just how incredible this story really is. Just like the characters in the children's tales I was just talking about, these two men were not what people in Jesus' time expected them to be.
Let's take a closer look at the Pharisee. When we present day Christians hear the word “Pharisee”, my guess is that most of us think of those evil men who plotted to have Jesus arrested and crucified. But back in his day, this man would have been considered a very holy person. Listen to how he describes himself: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous”. Since there is no mention that he was lying, I believe we can take this description as accurate; he really did avoid those sins of greed and adultery and dishonest actions. He says he fasts twice a week. From what I have learned, that was well beyond what most Jewish people did for fasting. He also tithes, that is, pays ten percent of his income for the Temple. This is a holy person.
Now consider the tax collector. The tax collectors were despised by the Jewish people for two big reasons. One was that they represented the Roman government who had taken over and were oppressing the people. The taxes went to the governor and the Emperor. Second, these collectors didn't just take the money what was owed to the government, they would also take extra for themselves. See, tax collectors weren't given a wage for their work. Whatever they could get beyond what was owed to the government, they got to keep. In addition, there was no regulation as to how much they were allowed charge extra for their own keep. So you can imagine that the only limit to all this was how greedy the tax collectors was.
As far Jesus' audience was concerned, that tax collector was just as sinful and despised as that Pharisee was holy and revered. They could not have been more polar opposite. A modern equivalent might be if you saw a devout Catholic who goes to Mass every Sunday and most of the rest of the week as well and prays the Rosary regularly and goes to Reconciliation regularly and a street gang member, complete with tattoos and the typical clothing, walk into a Catholic Church to pray. We would expect that church attending Catholic to have the stronger faith life and deeper relationship with God than the gang member. But what if after their prayers, God actually blessed the gang member rather than the church goer? What if the gang member walked out of there with a deeper relationship with God than the church goer? That is basically what happens with the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Both of these men offer up prayers while at the Temple. The real difference between the two prayers, however, is that the Pharisee is so busy trying to pat himself on the back, he is barely even speaking to God. The tax collector is actually showing humility and admitting that he is truly as sinful as any other human being and is asking for God's mercy and help. Yes, the Pharisee does start out by thanking God that he is not all those sinful things, but then he goes on to talk about how it is he who fasts and tithes and how he is nothing like that tax collector. So not only is he giving himself all the credit, he is even throwing in a disparaging judgment of his fellow Jew. He is exalting himself when he should have been exalting God. To put it plainly: his prayer is flawed.
Where the Pharisees' prayer was an example of arrogance and pride, the tax collector's prayer is one of humility. As I said before, this Pharisee really was a holy man and lived a virtuous life, but just like the rest of us, he was still a sinful person. He still needed God's mercy and help to avoid sin, it was all the grace of God that got him that far. The tax collector realizes the need for God's grace, and even though others may have considered him to be too far down the road of sin to think he had any hope of salvation left, he asks for God's help. “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”. Such a short and simple prayer, but it speaks more eloquently of his faith that God will hear him and grant his request than anything else he could have said.
We too need to have the humility to realize that we are sinners and we need God's help in order to avoid sin and enter into heaven. We also need confidence that He will hear us and answer us. Remember what the first reading and psalm tell us, “God hears the cry of the poor”. He will hear us in our cry for salvation as well.
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