I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 

 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  

 

- Luke 18:9–14 

 

Yesterday we read that the chief priests led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning.  But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.  Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"  They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evil-doer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."  Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law."  Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.  Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"  Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?  Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me.  What have You done?"  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."  Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"  Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king.  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"  And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all."

 

  Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector."  My study Bible explains that the Pharisee is highly respected and a careful observer of the details of the Law, whereas the tax collector is despised as a sinner who collaborates with the occupying Roman forces, and is seen as betraying and cheating his own people.  

 

"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' "  The practices of this Pharisee are laudable.  My study Bible calls them worthy examples to follow.  These good deeds named here (fasting and giving tithes) are primary weapons against the passions of lust and greed (adultery and extortion).  But without the participation of the heart -- in humility and repentance -- outward practices are worthless, my study Bible says, and they lead to pride and judgment of others.  Of importance to note is that the text tells us he prays with himself.  My study Bible comments that God is absent where there is boasting.  

 

"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' "   According to my study bible, the tax collector shows by his posture an awareness of the state of his soul.  He stands far away from the altar of sacrifice, and his eyes are cast downward.  This prayer, God, be merciful to me a sinner, is the foundation of the Jesus Prayer (a practice designed to fulfill St. Paul's teaching in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; see also this article), as is the refrain "Lord have mercy" that permeates worship and personal prayer. 

 

"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."   To be justified means to be forgiven and set right with God.  My study Bible comments here that inward humility is blessed, while pride in outward deeds is condemned.

 

Fr. Stephen Freeman (of the Glory to God for All Things blog) relates a story from the Twelve Step program Alcoholics Anonymous.  He writes, "I recall the words of an old-timer in AA to a young man who was troubled about AA’s talk about 'God' and a 'Higher Power': 'Son, the only thing you need to know about God is that you’re not him.'"   This anecdote may not explain who God is, but it gets to the point of something fundamental to Christ's story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  The Pharisee, a scrupulous observer of all outward religious laws and practices, apparently does not truly pray before God.  He prays "with himself."  This is deliberate language in the Gospels, directly from the Greek, which reads πρὸς ἑαυτὸν προσηύχετο; literally, he "prayed to (or toward) himself."  As my study Bible points out, this is in great contrast to the posture of the Tax Collector, who "would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven."   This hesitancy in facing God, so to speak, is an indication that the tax collector is all too well aware that it is God he stands before, and not another fallible and sinning human being such as himself.  By contrast, the Pharisee seems quite unaware of his own shortcomings, whatever they may be, and has no intention of bringing them up before God, but prays in a way that not only boasts about himself but casts aspersions at the one near him, the Tax Collector.  He not only prays "with himself," but fails to come to God even to ask what else it is that God may want of him.  Where there is no inquiry nor openness to the other (and in this case, the Other is God), there can be no growth.  Thus the Pharisee's prayer is a recipe for being stuck.  The truth is, we're either going toward God, or we're going the other way.  He prays "toward" or "facing" himself (as the Greek πρὸς indicates).  He's looking in his own mirror, at his reflection of himself to himself.  What we all need -- and the point of all worship really -- is to turn toward God, and find how that particular mirror reflects who we are.  In the Proverbs we read, "My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;  for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights" (Proverbs 3:11-12).  In today's lectionary selection, this is quoted by St. Paul in the reading from Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 12:1-14).  A loving God wishes us to be disciples, learners.  To return God's love, and to be embraced by God is to be taught, to be encouraged above all else to grow, to become more like God, for this is the great gift of true self held in our relationship to Creator.  If we pray only toward or with ourselves, well then, like the Pharisee, we stay stuck -- except stuck always leads backwards, for life moves on and there are always new things for us to learn and ways God asks us to grow through the tensions and contradictions of life.  For this Pharisee is deliberately blind to the ways God would lead him.  As Jesus asks frequently, echoing prophets of the Old Testament, "Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?"   So let us be justified like the tax collector, in facing God in our prayer, like the children we truly are, and finding what it is our loving Father wants for us, what Christ will teach us.  For He says, "Follow Me."  There's another anecdote but it's told to us by St. John, at the very end of his Gospel.  St. Peter is restored and given direction as he's told by the risen Christ, "Feed My lambs."  But Peter then turns and asks about John standing nearby, "But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus replies to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."   So this direction is for all of us, if we, like the Pharisee in today's reading, fail to pay attention to what's ours to pay attention to, and look around instead.  It's a good reminder, "You follow Me." Lent is for keeping our focus on God, sharpening and honing our practice at doing so, and learning to be humble before God.  Let us take it one day at a time, and remember what we're to be about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Matthew 23:1-12

Yesterday we read that on the same day Jesus was quizzed by the Pharisees and Herodians about paying taxes to Caesar, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him and asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were with us seven brothers.  The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.  Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be?  For they all had her."  Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.  For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.  But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."  And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.  But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"  Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."   Our readings skip over Matthew 22:41-46, as these verses were included in the reading for the eve of Ascension Day, on May 20th (see that reading here).

Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples . . ..  Today's reading is the beginning of what would be Jesus' final public sermon.  It is a grand critique of the ways of the scribes and the Pharisees.  There are several themes which Jesus will include.  First, while the Jewish leaders have God-given authority and teach God's Law, they are personally ungodly and cold-hearted.  This is an important distinction, and will shape the future of Christianity and Jesus' teachings to us.  As those with authority, the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees is to be honored, but they should not be imitated (verses 2-7, which are included in today's reading).  A second theme in this sermon is that God is our true Father and Teacher.  Just has Jesus has spoken of Himself as the One who leads people to the Father, so any teacher or father on earth is one who leads people to God.  But the scribes and Pharisees do the opposite; they place themselves in God's position, my study bible says (verses 8-12, also included in today's reading).  Christ then will proceed with an eightfold indictment of the scribes and Pharisees (verses 13-36).  He will charge them with inverting God's values, and as the commentary in my study bible phrases it, with being mean-spirited, judgmental, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, and blindly self-righteous.  These charges are directed against the Jewish leaders of the day, but my study bible affirms that every single word applies equally to Christian religious leaders today who behave in the same way.

. . . saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do."   My study bible explains that to sit in Moses' seat means to hold the succession of office down from Moses himself.  In the synagogue, the teacher would speak while seated as a sign of authority.  My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom as commenting that the scribes were depraved in thought and heart, but Jesus still upholds the dignity of their office, as they speak not their own words but God's.  So it is likewise in the Church.  The clergy are shown respect as they hold the apostolic office, although they are also sinners.  Moreover, the sins of the clergy do not remove from the people their own responsibility before God.

"For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' "  Phylacteries are small leather pouches which contain passages of Scripture and are worn on the arm or forehead.  The concept is to keep God's Law always in mind (Exodus 13:9), but the Pharisees use them as a show of false piety, making them more and more large and noticeable.   The other highly conspicuous signs of elevated position and religious authority Jesus names we can easily recognize for ourselves.

"But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  Jesus' warning against calling hypocrites father and teacher, my study bible explains, is not an absolute prohibition against using these terms (as some falsely teach).  They are terms used, in fact, many times in the New Testament, each usage inspired by God.  Teacher is used in John 3:10, Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28, and 2 Timothy 1:11.  Father is used in Luke 16:24, 1 Corinthians 4:15, and Colossians 3:21.    Since the earliest days of the Church, bishops and presbyters were called "father."  This is not because they take the place of God, my study bible explains, but rather because in their fatherly care for their flocks, they lead people to God, and they also exercise fatherly authority within the community.  In many cases, they have also died for their communities during times of persecution and hostility.

What does it mean to call someone a father?  Or to call someone a teacher?  These words, of course, are masculine words, and so are oriented toward men, but of course teachers come in all genders, and we also have many mothers who may have spiritual children.  So when we think of these words, what do we think of?  In all of Jesus' teaching, He holds firm to the concept that all things must serve God first.  When He's asked the greatest commandment in the Law (in Saturday's reading, above), He lists the first greatest commandment as "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."  This takes priority over all things.  But then He lists the second, allied to it, as follows:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Throughout Jesus' ministry, there has been one theme:  that when one sees Christ, one sees the Father.  He is here to lead all to the Father.  Moreover, He allies a new commandment to His followers to that teaching:  "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34-35).  In this unity of love, we find one insurmountable theme, and that is the theme of truth.  The reality of the God revealed by Christ is the truth, as He Himself is the truth, as expressed in "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).  The ultimate truth is the reality of God the Father, reflected clearly in Christ, who is also our Teacher.  And whoever would call themselves father (or mother) or teacher must also lead to and live this truth in order to be qualified to carry such a name.  Otherwise they are false shepherds who mislead, false prophets who are wolves in sheep's clothing (7:15).  And there is really nothing in between.  We are either serving one thing or the other.  People may be confused and well-intentioned, or they may be deliberately misleading.  But either way, the choice is really between these two things:  we are either going (or being led) toward God, the ultimate truth -- or we are being led the other way, possibly by those merely in it for themselves, or misguided themselves.  Either way, it matters little, for ultimately there is repentance and hence correction available to all; a deep lack of repentance is already a sign of a problem.  And here we come to the heart of Christ's teachings in today's reading:  that it is hypocrisy that is the greatest sign of false teachers.  If Jesus is the Person who is truth (again, as in "I am the way, the truth, and the life"), then those who fail to truly lead us to Christ and the Father fail to be true teachers; they fail in caring for the spiritual health and well-being of their flocks.  Neither do they qualify as true spiritual fathers or mothers, for the kind of love that includes freedom in Christ's truth is missing.  Without a heart that is truly humble before and dedicated to God, we can't manage to find our own flaws and hence repentance.  To come to today's reflection of this teaching, we have but to look around us in social media, and how easily we find it is to do what is called "virtue-signalling."  Are we good or God-like because we put up a slogan on Twitter or Facebook?  It really doesn't matter what "side" one is on in terms of expressing some sort of God-like virtue of loving truth or even practicing love for neighbor and reflecting God's love in our own conduct.  It is all too easy to make a statement or slogan, to express oneself to be on the "right side" (whichever that might be), rather than to do the work Christ commands us to do.  Some people might be so busy with activity and sloganeering they forget to take the time to pray and come to terms with what God's calling them to.  We need to take time out for God, and to remember that to love God is done with all one's heart and soul and mind.  This is not achieved through joining up on the bandwagon with the latest slogan or following the group call to somehow "join up" or join in whatever activity is proffered today.  To root ourselves in the places that Christ asks us to be, to be certain that we are acting to avoid hypocrisy, we need a kind of regular withdrawal for prayer, just as Christ does Himself throughout the Gospels.  We need to "check in" with our real Father, and make certain we're on the path He offers; we need to pray with our true Teacher and dedicate ourselves to His teachings, asking for correction where it is needed, and making certain that repentance is for us always possible by remembering the essential need we have for humility, and staying away at times from the public's great cry of today.  We don't want to be like the crowds in the temple, who at one day welcome Christ, and the next are stirred to condemn Him to death on the Cross.  Our true teachers, and real fathers and mothers worthy of the name, will encourage each one of us to do the same, to find ourselves in prayer to Our Father, to come to ourselves (as did the Prodigal) in our true home which is in Christ and in the heart (John 14:23-24).  Especially in a time of public unrest such as we might see today, it is a good time to withdraw for prayer, and to center ourselves in that place where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make their dwelling within us.  We have to remember Christ's words and teachings, and seek first Our Father, so that we know and recognize who are true fathers or mothers and true teachers.  In the Church we are left with many tools for doing this, from worship to the tools of prayer -- especially the Psalms, the Lord's Prayer (or "Our Father"), and the prayers of the Church.  Let us remember that the greatest among us -- those who would be teachers and fathers or mothers -- are those who are true servants, and that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted

 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

- Luke 14:1-11

In yesterday's reading, we were told that some Pharisees warned Jesus: "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."  And He said to them, "Go, tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.'  Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!  See!  Your house is left to you desolate; and assuredly, I say to you, you shall not see Me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' "

 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.   It's interesting that Luke gives us Jesus' interactions with Pharisees.  Apparently these occasions were a part of His life, and so we take from this and other Gospels the idea that some were interested in Him, we know that others were followers (perhaps secretly), and as today's text tells us there were those who watched Him closely in order to catch Him and accuse Him.  My study bible puts it this way:  "The Pharisees again exemplify a paradoxical, cunning combination of interest and suspicion.  They receive Jesus for a meal and yet watch to catch Him as a lawbreaker."  Dropsy is a condition characterized by a swelling of the tissues due to fluid accumulation below the surface of the skin (such as legs or ankles, for example) or any cavity of the body -- today we more commonly call it edema. We don't know how this man's condition manifested, but clearly it must have been visible to all present.

And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  Luke gives us a healing of this man, and a repetition of Jesus' question in another recent encounter in the synagogue, when He healed the woman who had been bent over eighteen years.  Jesus must be aware they are looking to catch Him, and yet His response is to boldly repeat what He's done that they objected to previously, building on His earlier words.

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  I find it interesting that the point Jesus makes to this crowd is one about self-exaltation.  It must be relevant to the ways in which they seek to catch Him. Jesus has often preached about the hypocrisy of the leadership, and how they love the best places and the formal greetings in the marketplaces -- all signs of one's place.   The parable takes place at a wedding feast, and we understand the allusions to what this means in terms of the Kingdom, and Jesus' title of Bridegroom.  Frequently Jesus will give us parables of the Kingdom as a great wedding banquet.  Here, He emphasizes humility, its necessity and our prudence in practicing it.  My study bible says, "This parable of good manners, found only in Luke, contrasts the virtue of humility with the vice of self-exaltation.  Compare James 4:6:  'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' "  Perhaps because it is because they seek to judge Him that He tells the parable.  Of course, in the allusions to the Kingdom and its great wedding feast, the surprise here is that the guest they watch to trip up is the Bridegroom Himself.  Speaking to lawyers and Pharisees, it is He who "turns the tables" and is the lawgiver.

We can just imagine Jesus at such a dinner, filled with guests who are at the same time His hosts in some sense, and also those who seek to catch Him, to find something with which to accuse Him.  He's the outsider and yet respected because of the people who follow and love Him; He's known as a teacher.  But Jesus' parable teaches us something very profound about our human relationships.  The Kingdom will work within us and among us, and often in secret.  Jesus has taught about "your Father who is in the secret place" and the kingdom that is like the "leaven hid in three measures of flour."  Our humility and its regular practice will give us a more sure chance of not missing what is there for us in this kingdom!  When we assume that we have the highest place there is nowhere to go but down, often with a painful bump.  Putting ourselves in God's hands, assuming we don't know all there is to know and can't be a supreme judge of everything is our best prescription for finding wisdom in life, for not missing what may be sitting right in front of us.  Our humility will be rewarded by God's own exaltation of those who love Him, who share a true passion for God's wisdom, and seek it for themselves.  Thus we are moved to a higher place at that table, at the wedding banquet which we await.  How do we practice humility?  We first look to Christ, and we hold ourselves malleable, ready to be transformed, to change our minds, to find new things that turn our hearts back toward God in a renewal of baptism each day.  Let us remember Jesus' story of good manners, and understand that it applies in all situations, no matter how seemingly banal in daily life or in our deepest moments in prayer.  We never know who is truly sitting among us.