Readings: Sirach 35:12‑14,16‑18 2 Timothy 4:6‑8,16‑18
Luke 18:9‑14
Last Sunday's readings stressed the need for perseverance and faith in prayer. This week we learn that our prayer should seek justice and forgiveness in a spirit of humility. In the words of the responsorial psalm, let us pray:
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The Lord is close to the broken hearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. (Ps 34:18‑19)
Sirach's reflections assert that a desire for justice must accompany true worship. As a God of justice, the Lord does not favor the wealthy but "hears the cry of the oppressed," especially "the wail of the orphan" and "the widow's complaint." Therefore Sirach states that the one "who serves God willingly is heard," and "the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds." The reading concludes with an act of faith in the final triumph of God's justice. "Nor will it (the prayer of the lowly) withdraw till the Most High responds,/ judges justly and affirms the right."
The closing portion of Second Timothy also binds a life of service to God's justice with worship. In language charged with emotion, the Pauline writer describes Paul’s suffering in prison and approaching death as "being poured out like a libation." Then, he depicts the struggle to be a faithful apostle in athletic imagery.
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race,
I have kept the faith. From now on a merited crown
awaits me; on that day the Lord, just judge that he is,
will award it to me‑‑ and not only to me but to all
who have looked for his appearing with eager longing.
The author is not simply bragging in Paul’s name; he uses Paul’s situation to teach Timothy the proper attitude for a minister of the gospel in the midst of suffering and abandonment. Although Paul had no one to defend him in his first hearing before the Roman court, he forgave those who abandoned him in time of need. "May it not be held against them!" In his suffering Paul has been rescued by the Lord who "stood by my side and gave me strength." The selection ends with a confident act of faith in God's protection: "The Lord will continue to rescue me from all attempts to do me harm and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom."
Last week the parable of the widow and the unjust judge taught "the necessity of praying always and not losing heart." This week Luke has Jesus continue his instructions about prayer with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector which is "addressed to those who believed in their own self‑righteousness while holding everyone else in contempt."
The Pharisee's prayer reminds us that piety can turn into narcissism. “With head unbowed,” he begins by assuming in a god-like way to judge himself as morally superior to others.
‘I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like
the rest of men‑‑grasping, crooked, adulterous‑‑
or even like this tax collector.’
Then, with smug self assurance, he goes on to list his deeds of extraordinary piety: ‘I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all I possess.’ The Pharisee's prayer is really an act of idolatrous self-love. Instead of opening himself to God's gifts, he enumerates his own accomplishments.
In sharp contrast to the Pharisee's moral posturing, the tax collector prays by humbly acknowledging the truth that he is a sinner. "The other man, however, kept his distance, not even daring to raise his eyes to heaven. All he did was beat his breast and say, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’" Because the tax collector recognizes his need for God's mercy, Jesus asserts: “Believe me, this man went home from the temple justified but the other did not.”
This parable forces us to choose between two ways of approaching God. Either we turn religion into a self-righteous worship of our own moral superiority, or we admit our need for God's mercy. Jesus concludes:
"For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled while he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (Lk 18:14).
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