Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance.
We have Paul in our Church represented carrying his scrolls, in the mosaic facing us on the wall behind the altar.
Luke 18:9-14.
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector, The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.' 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.' I tell you the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Gospel of the Lord.
Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, I am at the point of dissolution, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. I await now my merited crown in heaven, certain that the Lord, the just judge, will grant it to me as he will to all, who await with hope for his appearance.
A parable is a vessel made of words into which we pour who we are and we pour out what we need.
So today, the parable is directed "to those who are convinced of their own righteousness and despised every one else." Already we know that those who think in that manner are not following the greatest commandment, that we love the Lord our God with our whole hearts and souls, our whole minds and strength, the Shema which the devout Jew prayed every day, and the second which is like the first, that we love our neighbor like ourselves. And then when the Pharisee prays, the parable says "he took his position". When you are invited take a lower position so that in case one more important is invited you are not asked to move down lower but instead take a lower position so that the host may say to you, "My friend, come up higher."
And when he prayed, he did not pray to God but instead "spoke this prayer to himself". Even so, God heard him for we have this parable and besides although the Pharisee lists his good deeds, they are already known to God just as this "prayer to [the Pharisee] himself" is known to God. And then a further violation, now of the stricture, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income." And the Pharisee is judged for all time: for whoever exalts himself will be humbled. In contrast, the tax collector, the despised servant of the conquering Romans, "stood off at a distance", "would not even raise his eyes to heaven", "beat his breast" and prayed not to himself but to God, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus tells us that the tax collector, who humbled himself, in the temple before God, went home justified.
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