30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

[Readings]

In the Gospel last week, Jesus told us that our prayer must be persistent. If you remember, it was the parable of the widow who didn't stop asking a dishonest judge for a just decision until he finally gave in and did what she wanted.

If that was the case for a dishonest human being, how much more would God our Father give us what we truly need.

This week we have a second lesson in prayer and, again, Jesus teaches us through the story of two contrasting characters - in fact, they are two of the familiar characters of Jesus' stories: a Pharisee and a tax collector.

You couldn't have two more different sorts of people and, in this story, they pray two very different kinds of prayers.

The Pharisee is the model of religious observance. Everything that he mentions in his prayer is probably true: he fasts and tithes money - more than is even required by the law; he's not greedy, or dishonest, or adulterous.

In his prayer, the Pharisee thanks God that he is such a good guy - better than "the rest of humanity," people like the tax collector.

Tax collectors, as we've heard before, were despised in Jesus' time. They were traitors to their own people who worked with the Romans to collect taxes from the oppressed people of Israel. There's no reason given in this gospel for us to think that this particular tax collector was any better; but he, at least, is aware of his sin. He stands at the back with his head down and prays, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

It's hard to think of a better prayer than that: "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

The difference between the prayer of the Pharisee and the prayer of the tax collector - what makes the latter go home justified, as Jesus said - is their different attitudes towards God.

The Pharisee is following the laws of his religion - that's not a bad thing - but it's not about God, it's all about him. "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity ... I fast twice a week ... I pay tithes on my whole income."

His own perceived goodness has become an idol, more important to him than God. Rather than seeing what he's been given as a gift to be humbly received, he's made it the focus of his life.

The tax collector, despite his seriously sinful life, knows that he has nothing to boast about before God. He comes before the Lord and is simply honest: "be merciful to me a sinner."

These two men aren't that different. Like all of us, they need the mercy of God. They're imperfect human beings, just like you and me, who need God's love and God's grace to be truly good. It's not something any of us can do on our own.

The tax collector realizes this. He knows that he needs God.

That is our lesson on prayer from this gospel. If last week's gospel was teaching us to make prayer a constant part of our lives, then this story teaches us about the attitude we should have in prayer.

In our first reading from Sirach, we heard, "The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds ..."

Being lowly or humble before the Lord in prayer doesn't mean beating ourselves up or forcing ourselves to feel guilty - it means being what Jesus called "poor in spirit." That spiritual poverty means coming to God just as we are and recognizing that we need him.

Our prayer isn't a necessity for God, but it is for us. God wants us to pray so that we can grow in love - learning to trust and rely on him as our Father.

To be truly righteous, to be truly holy or good - we must go humbly before the one who is Goodness Himself.