Luke 14:25–33 ESV – Bible Gateway
This is another parable unique to the Gospel of Luke and continues with another parable concerning prayer.
The Catechism has a nice synopsis of this series of parables:
§2613 Three principal parables on prayer are transmitted to us by St. Luke:
— The first, “the importunate friend,” invites us to urgent prayer: “Knock, and it will be opened to you.” To the one who prays like this, the heavenly Father will “give whatever he needs,” and above all the Holy Spirit who contains all gifts.
— The second, “the importunate widow,” is centered on one of the qualities of prayer: it is necessary to pray always without ceasing and with the patience of faith. “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
— The third parable, “the Pharisee and the tax collector,” concerns the humility of the heart that prays. “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” The Church continues to make this prayer its own: Kyrie eleison!
As is often the case, Jesus presents the parable with both some humor and a twist. The twist is mostly lost on us now since the word Pharisee is now used only as a term of derision. During Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were widely respected and viewed as striving to be holy and righteous. Jesus thus presents the parable as a contrast between what society viewed as a righteous man of God and someone despicable and beyond redemption like the tax collectors.
While tax collectors still are not seen as admirable, Peter Kreeft points this out:
They were empowered and encouraged by Rome to raise the taxes as much as they could, and everything above and beyond the legal minimum that Rome demanded, they could keep themselves. They were literally legal thieves. They were hated as the lowest of the low. There weren’t even any jokes about them, as there are a lot of lawyer jokes in our society, because lawyers aren’t really hated all that much, but publicans were. What they did was too serious for jokes.[1]
John Bergsma looks at this central aspect of the Pharisee’s prayer:
Jesus tells this parable in an almost humorous fashion. The proud Pharisee speaks his “prayer to himself.” He mostly talks about himself in his prayer; in fact, he is praising himself and even praying to himself! The Pharisee has gotten himself confused with God. That’s the essence of pride.[2]
Brant Pitre adds to this understanding:
Although the Revised Standard Version says that the Pharisee stood and prayed with himself, the literal Greek here is actually pros heauton. So it’s literally “he prayed to himself,” whereas the tax collector prays to God. [3]
To see what is so fundamentally wrong with the Pharisee’s prayer, we can look at some of St. Teresa of Avila’s definitions of prayer:
“For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.”[4]
What I have come to understand is that this whole groundwork of prayer is based on humility and that the more a soul lowers itself in prayer the more God raises it up.[4]
There is no friendship with God in the pharisee’s attitude. Imagine a friend coming up to you and then announcing all the good things he does and how he is more righteous than others in following the law. Patting his own shoulder at the same time in self-congratulations while pointing out others he holds in disdain. At the same time, this friend never even mentions you. This is no friend at all. His prayer is like a boomerang returning to himself.
Returning to Brant Pitre:
“He prayed to himself.” That’s the essence of idolatry— to make oneself God and to take God off the throne.[3]
In contrast, the Publican is both humble and repentant. He is truly speaking to God as a friend and seeking forgiveness for how he has wronged him. He does not withhold anything from him and opens himself up for mercy. He does not try to justify or excuse his failures, yet he walks away justified. As Peter Kreeft writes: “Don’t ask God for justice; ask him for mercy. Because you will get what you ask for.”[1]
Brant Pitre comments on the last line of this parable:
So in fact—just to be clear here too—when Jesus uses the word “exalt,” the Greek hypsoō literally means to lift yourself up, and then tapeinoō —to humble yourself—means to bring yourself down.[3]
John Bergsma gives a good summation of the contrast between the two men:
Jesus’s point is not that it is good to collaborate with an oppressive regime and cheat the poor, nor that fasting is bad and greed, dishonesty, and adultery are good. Jesus’s point is that pride can overshadow all other sins, and that if we have attained all other human virtues but retained pride in ourselves, we are like someone who has not even begun the spiritual life.[2]
St. Francis de Sales, in his “Introduction to the Devout Life,” wrote:
The vain Pharisee held the humble tax collector to be a great sinner, or even perhaps an unjust man, an adulterer, or an extortioner. But he was greatly deceived, for at that very time the tax collector was justified.
Alas! Since the goodness of God is so immense that one moment suffices to obtain and receive his grace, what assurance can we have, that he who was yesterday a sinner is not a saint today?
The day that is past ought not to judge the present day, nor the present day judge that which is past: it is only the last day that judges all.
Returning to the Catechism:
§2559 “Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God.” But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or “out of the depths” of a humble and contrite heart? He who humbles himself will be exalted; humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. “Man is a beggar before God.”[5]
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C – John Bergsma
- Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
- The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1 – ICS Publications
- An Introduction to the Devout Life
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time ↩
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time ↩
- St. Teresa of Avila, “The Book of Her Life” ↩
- St. Augustine, Sermo 56, 6, 9: PL 38, 381. ↩
