THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR (Lk 18:9–14)
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: two men who went up to the temple to pray.
In Jesus’ time, the Pharisee was a devout man, strictly observant of the Law, even beyond what it required, to ensure its full observance. The tax collector, on the other hand, was a Jew who collected taxes for the Roman Empire, collaborating with the occupiers and often enriching himself by charging more than what was due. Thus, he was regarded as a public sinner.
The Pharisee in the Gospel is proud of his virtues and despises those who are not like him; his prayer is a constant act of self-affirmation.
The tax collector, however, recognizes his fragility, knows he is a sinner, and begs for God’s mercy. It is his humility that makes him righteous before God.
The Pharisee represents the temptation of spiritual pride — one who considers himself just and compares himself to others. The tax collector, by contrast, shows us the path of humility: he does not justify himself, does not boast, but simply pleads for compassion. It is the attitude of the humble heart, open to transformation, that receives forgiveness and peace.
Jesus concludes that the tax collector returned home justified, for though a sinner, his prayer was sincere and humble.
The message of Jesus is deeply revolutionary: the righteous and devout will be humbled, while the sinner will be exalted. This confounds the religious and the Pharisees of all times, for it reveals that good works are worthless if they lead to pride or a sense of superiority. Within each of us dwell both the Pharisee and the tax collector; “the spiritual path passes through recognizing them,” says Jesuit Xavier Melloni.
Brother Marcos explains it beautifully in his article “For God, No One Is Lost”: the follower of Jesus is not the perfect one, but the one who needs a God who loves him undeservedly. “The prostitutes and the sinners are entering the Kingdom of God before you” (Mt 21:31) — not because they are sinners, but because they recognize it and need God. A God who demands perfection before love would be a tyrant; the God of Jesus loves unconditionally, without limit and equally.
Our hearts know the pride of the Pharisee, and the sin of the tax collector dwells there too.
Only in sincere prayer, in the naked encounter with God, can our ego — nourished by pride and attachment — be overcome. There, in the silence that quiets the egocentric noise of our self, appears the splendor of God, the miracle of His consolation.
So much mercy overwhelms us; it exceeds our limited understanding of Love, for we feel that, like the tax collector, He loves us even in our weakness and betrayal. That merciful love gives us our identity as children of God and grants us that deep joy the Gospel speaks of: “no one will take it from you.” It is the joy of the tax collector who tastes God’s forgiveness; the joy of the prodigal son who melts into the eternal embrace of the Father. It is our joy, glimpses of the “promised heaven,” when, in our nothingness, we let the All of God dwell within us.
Then we realize the vanity, the futility of our Pharisaic understanding of the world: how much energy wasted accumulating merits or virtues, seeking recognition from men and even from God, when, in truth, as with the tax collector, it is enough to surrender to the unconditional and eternal love of God.
In prayer, we are a seed falling into fertile soil. It is the privileged space where the Pharisee within us can die, and we become what we are called to be — in Him.
Ma. José Arévalo
FEDAC
Provincia San Raimundo de Peñafort
