The great theologian Paul Tillich. reflecting on Saint Paul's comment that the gospel is for some a "stumbling block" once wrote that the danger is in stumbling over the wrong thing. Such is the essence of today's gospel reading.
The little vignette at Luke 18: 9-14 is well known to many. In it, a Pharisee and a tax collector are standing by each other in the Temple for prayer. The Pharisee rattles off a laundry list of his religious achievements and thanks God that he is not one of various kinds of sinners, especially like this tax collector! (Today's Old Testament passage from Sirach in the old lectionary says, "You can't bribe God.") The tax collector simply prays, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," and Jesus says the latter was the one justified before God.
At that time this would have been a shocking story, as if today we told it about a nun and a criminal. Although often condemned in the New Testament for instances of hypocrisy and some self-serving behaviours, the Pharisees were a religious group noted for high standards of conduct and considered righteous by the public. Jewish tax agents, on the other hand, were the instruments of a heretical occupying power, and traitors to their own people.
It is noteworthy that we have no reason to doubt that everything the Pharisee said was true as to his religious track record, including fasting and tithing. He was, by every account, righteous as that term was understood by Jesus, James and all Jews. That is, he lived his faith and that was what counted. Where the problem comes in is self-righteousness and judgmentalism. We learn that religious status doesn't matter to a God who differentiates between haughty religious folk and humble sinners -- and prefers the latter!
The story carries a strong message for us: to avoid self-righteous attitudes, especially trying to play games with God; and to realize our judge's licence expired on the cross,so we had better be judging ourselves, and not other people.
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