March 6, 2013. Homily, Saturday, March 9, 2013

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 everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

That is the point of this parable: it is addressed to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

What can I do with you, Ephraim. What can I do with you, Judah. Your piety is like a morning cloud.

Jesus, one of the three persons in God, is not overhearing but intercepting these prayers:
The Pharisee spoke "this [his] prayer to himself."
The Pharisee is convinced of his own righteousness and despised everyone else. "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous". "[O]r even like this tax collector": The Pharisee despised the tax collector.

The tax collector beat his breast and prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

Jesus concluded, "I tell you the latter [tax collector] went home justified, not the former [the Pharisee]; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."