30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C 

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18

Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

Luke 18:9-14

Today’s passage of the gospel brings what may be considered the wittiest of all of Jesus’ parables. It is called “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.”

It is a simple story of two people going to the temple area to pray: one of them a member of the Pharisees, the best regarded religious group in Jesus’ time, and the other a tax collector, likely the most hated group as they worked for the foreign power that controlled Judea, the Roman Empire.

Still, the evangelist took care to specify Jesus’ purpose: “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” But what happens when we read the parable? Most likely, we will identify ourselves with the tax collector … thinking we are better than the Pharisee, and so we are caught in a very interesting dynamic. It is as we say in my own country: “nobody beats us Argentinians at being humble.”

In order to realize the ultimate goal of the Lord, it is important to notice that the Pharisee is never called a liar or that he is saying things he has not done. Even more, the list of actions he presents to God is quite a good one! What then is missing here for the Lord to say that the Pharisee went back home without being justified?

The issue of justification (to be acknowledged as righteous or just by God and, in consequence, to be admitted into the Lord’s presence) was extremely important in the Jewish spiritual world of Jesus’ time. The Pharisees made it the focus of their efforts. As a matter of fact, the term Pharisee comes from the verb parash, which means “to separate.” In their eagerness to avoid any source of contamination that would render them legally impure and therefore unable to perform God’s worship, they adopted a lifestyle that kept them away from all those who, one way or another, could constitute a threat to their legal purity.

In a short autobiographic blurb about himself, St. Paul says that he was a Pharisee, blameless in the righteousness based on the law, but he adds that he gave it up to accept the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ (see Philippians 3:5-11). He says even more that Abraham himself, the source of the entire Jewish nation, was doing the same: “Indeed, if Abraham was justified on the basis of his works, he has reason to boast; but this was not so in the sight of God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’” (Romans 4:2-3).

So, what is the essence of the problem? It lies in the acknowledgment of the authentic source from which all our good actions spring. Without denying the cooperation that we, as free beings, are to bring to our actions, we must recognize that the ultimate font from which our capacity to perform good actions comes is the Lord himself. How is this expressed? It is by practicing the virtue of humility, which prompts us to see that “every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

Humility works as removens prohibens, as the Latin saying goes. It means that it removes what constitutes an impediment. What is the greatest impediment or obstacle to God’s intervention in our lives? It is pride, to which humility is diametrically opposed. 

St. Teresa of Avila described humility as “walking in truth.” It is that simple. But, for some reason, we have the tendency to place ourselves above everything else, including God. Aquinas argues that pride is the first and most fundamental sin because it arises from an inordinate desire for one’s own excellence, leading to a rejection of God’s authority and the natural order (see Summa Theologiae II-II, 162). This is the constitutive element of original sin at its root.

The second reading shows us the right approach. St. Paul says, “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. … ” On one hand, the Apostle declares that he has led an intense life preaching the gospel, but, on the other hand, the crown of righteousness is given by the Lord. 

The most perfect example in the practice of humility is the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, being praised by St. Elizabeth for her faith, immediately reacted by saying, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord … for He has looked with favor on His lowly servant” (Luke 1:46, 48).

Related to: Christ always and everywhere the teacher – Catholic Times: Read Catholic News & Stories