Deacon Michael’s Homily for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time - October 22-23, 2022
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time - October 23, 2022
The readings for this Sunday on which then homily is based can be found HERE
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It is said that you cannot tell a book by its cover, or a movie by its trailer.
Also, sometimes we think we know what we are witnessing
…only to find out later on something quite different was going on.
Today's Gospel echoes these notions as both a Pharisee and the Tax Collector go into the Temple area to pray.
To get the power of this story we need to know a bit of context.
Imagining the scene as here and now may help.
Imagine that our nation has been conquered and is under foreign occupation.
The occupiers in charge do not share our ethnic heritage, our language, our customs…or our faith.
But if we pay our taxes and don’t get in their way they kinda leave us alone.
Power, order and money are their interests.
With that in mind, imagine that today’s Gospel scene takes place right here during Eucharistic Adoration, late one weekday, after work.
In comes an upstanding member of our community.
Well off and known to be generous with his treasure.
By all outward appearances he is a pious and good man.
Never misses Mass.
He’s a member of the parish council.
Knows his Catholic faith and can tell you just how in chapter and verse from the Catechism.
He hates the occupation.
He is looked up to and revered.
He goes to the foot of the altar, right there and with arms extended for all present to see, serene and pious,
…and prays silently to God
“Thank-you God that I am such a good, faithful, generous and pious man
…and not like the rest of the crooked timber of humanity
…and certainly not like that tax collector I just passed by.”
Well, just who might this tax collector be?
He was a local too, named by the occupying as “tax collector” for the town of Rocky Hill, with a nice office in Town Hall.
Once he meets the occupier's revenue target for the year he can pockets anything else he extracts in overcharges, penalties, interest and bribes
…all protected by the occupying army.
He’s become a wealthy man.
He just bought one of the nicest places in town. Paid cash.
But that day, this tax collector stood off in the dark at the back
…in the doorway of the church
…not wanting to enter too close into the presence of the Lord or attract attention to himself
…like he’s trying to make himself invisible.
He doesn’t even look up.
“O God be merciful to me a sinner” he prays silently.
Many people in the church would see two people praying and say that this is just as it should be.
The “good man” front and center before the Lord on the altar
…and the “bad man” well…best he stayed out of sight.
But Jesus, through today’s Gospel, would tell us that on that day, anyhow,
…the “problematic” tax collector left the church “justified” or “made right with God”
…while the seemingly pious and righteous one did not.
Has the Lord lost his mind?
Hardly…but he is pointing out a hard truth.
That if we think ourselves righteous and superior to others
…being so glad that we are not one of THOSE people
…we will have a hard time going where the Lord wants to take us.
If we are so glad that the Lord came to call and save all those sinners
…but we’re not one
…we’re missing the point
…and maybe in danger of missing our flight.
The tax collector sees himself and the truth clearly, and it opens up a path before him to experience God’s endless mercy
…just as it has for others
At the time that Jesus called Peter, Peter exclaimed, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Saint Paul reminded his friend Timothy that Christ came into the world to “save sinners” and of these I am the foremost…” as one who was once an arrogant, blaspheming persecutor.
Mercy made them both who they became for Christ and for us.
In Orthodox Christianity the Jesus Prayer is viewed as the proper spiritual foundation, the starting point for any real progress as a disciple.
It’s a simple prayer.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
…lifted almost verbatim from today's Gospel.
They repeat it over and over on a set of prayer beads, like we say the Rosary
…but this tax collector’s prayers are the only words.
The tax collector knows he needs mercy, and so just might find his way.
The Pharisee doesn’t, and remains lost, for now anyhow.
So, this story of the Pharisee and tax collector is important, foundational, for us.
They remind us of the starting point for the Christian journey
…they, like like all of us, share a common humanity in need of God’s mercy, whether we see it or not
…and their stories, and ours, are unfinished
…God isn’t done with either of them yet
…which is a sign of hope for all of us.