Public worship, not private devotional prayer, is argued by scholars as the setting of Jesus’ parable in our Sunday liturgy. The liturgical text from the New American Bible states that the two men “went up the temple to pray,” but the more literal rendition of the Revised Standard Version states that the two went “to worship.” In its more original form, our Sunday Gospel leads us to meditate on what is pleasing worship to God. Jesus says: “…indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth” (cf Jn 4:23-24).
First, pleasing worship should make us one! The Pharisee and the tax collector are not meant to represent their whole class. They are meant to represent two “types” of extreme dispositions that persons can have when they come to join the community for corporate worship and fellowship. The Pharisee is a personification of those who scrupulously observe the Law. He is sincere, not hypocritical as some imagine him to be. He stated the truth about himself: he was a man who went beyond the perfection that the Mosaic Law seeks. While the Mosaic Law obliges one day of Atonement—the Yom Kippur—this man did penitential fasting twice a week. While the Mosaic Law obliges tithing on agricultural produce, this man tithed on everything! The tax collector, on the other hand, personifies the hopeless arch-sinner. He earned his money through the shameful profession of serving the interests of the Roman exploiters. He beat his breast in great anguish and sorrow because conversion was practically impossible for him. Conversion would mean resigning from a livelihood with which he supported himself and his family. Also, conversion for him meant restoring to individuals all the money he got, plus an interest of one-fifth, the amount as stipulated by the Law. The Mishna taught that theft was only forgivable when full restitution had been made. In coming to the temple to join the atonement offering, the Pharisee and the tax collector committed the same sin, with different reasons. The Pharisee “took up his position and spoke… to himself.” (Other Bible version such as RSV)—“The Pharisee was standing apart by himself and praying.” The Pharisee then came with an attitude of being aloof from the congregation in worship. As Pharisee, he believed that he had to do this because accidental contact with the clothes of the “people of the land” (the ’am ha-aretz) would make him unclean. Besides, personally he had such a strong self-pride. The tax collector, on the other hand, also “stood off at a distance” from the congregation. This time, his aloofness from the worshiping community was due to his strong sense of unworthiness. Either way, the Pharisee and the tax collector were undermining the spirit of worship! Authentic worship should be of one heart and one mind. The words proclaimed in the First Reading from the book of Sirach ring strongly: “The Lord is a God of justice who knows no favorites!”
Second, pleasing worship should open us all to God—to God alone. Worship is not ours; it is not our “performance.” Sincere though he was—for he was really stating the truth about himself and his acts—the Pharisee fell to the trap of the traditional rabbis who taught that the coming of God and the awarding of God’s blessings depended on a person’s repentance and fulfillment of the Law. However, in its true sense, worship is God’s gracious moment! The word “worship” itself developed from “worth ship,” that is, giving God his worth. Worship is asking God to take his place, and to manifest his Godhead. Here was the saving grace of the tax collector. Hopeless and knowing that he was practically incapable of conversion and atonement according to the strict terms of the Law, the tax collector implored, “Hilastheti moi” (“Make an atonement for me!”). He asked God, and God justified him. The Pharisee asked nothing from God, so God gave him nothing. The Pharisee came to worship God, but he did not need God. He was satisfied with himself! At this point it is good to relate what the apostle Paul wrote Timothy from prison. He affirmed that God is a just Judge who awards the crown of righteousness not only to the faithful, but more importantly to those who wait and long for God. So, in worship let us wait on God, long for God, open to him alone.
Is there something we can take from this story? If we were to compare ourselves with the Pharisee on the other hand, and the tax collector on the other, most of us would probably fall somewhere in the middle. We are not quite as arrogant as the Pharisee, but neither are we honest and humble about ourselves as the tax collector. We would benefit from having something less of the Pharisee, and something more of the tax collector. In other words, we need to take a honest look at ourselves and our sins, acknowledge how little we have done with what God has given us, and pray often the prayer of the tax collector, “ O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Fr. Lito
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