Today’s question may not be for everyone. Maybe it’s not even for anyone here but only for certain other people you know. In fact, today’s question is one you need not answer immediately. You may want to think about it during the next days or weeks. It’s a question which might to be considered by the same people to whom the parable in today’s gospel was addressed.
In the translation we heard today, the gospel of Luke states: “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” The Lectionary we previously used, said: “Jesus spoke this parable addressed to those who believed in their own self-righteousness while holding everyone else in contempt.”
“Self-righteousness:” my dictionary defines “self-righteous” with these words: “Confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others.” The synonyms it lists are: “sanctimonious” and “pharisaical,” acting like a pharisee. It would appear that someone who is self-righteous is a person who believes that he has never made a mistake; there are no errors in any of his actions. A person who has never sinned, whose every action is entirely correct.
Well, today’s question is this: What does it mean to be truly “righteous,” truly “just?” What is the meaning of “justice”? Again the dictionary gives synonyms for “just:” such as “fair … unbiased … impartial … and truthful.” It also lists: “deserved” and “merited”
Many of us, if asked to think of an image of “justice,” would see in our mind’s eye, a woman in long robes, wearing a blind-fold and holding up a set of scales. Scales consisting not of a digital read-out like the ones at the deli counter but a balance in which weights are placed on both sides. For justice, the weights we add are the “rights” and “wrongs” of our life. The “good” and the “not-good” of our life.
Like the pharisee, we could add to our scales all of the good things we remember. How we are not like other people who are “greedy, dishonest, adulterous;” how we are not like those around us, those who collaborate with our enemies, those who bring hardship and even death to our people while claiming to be one of us. Publicans. Tax-collectors.
Or, like the tax-collector in today’s parable, we could place on our scales nothing which is positive; no memories of our contributions towards life, itself. But if our reflection ends here, with the boasting pharisee and the beaten-down tax-collector, we may have missed the point of the story – a story not about “scales of justice” held by a blind statue but rather a story about prayer – prayer to an Abba-God who exhibits not only justice but also mercy.
For some of us, justice equals punishment. We see the scales of justice and fail to see them as balances. Justice is not “punishment” so much as it is “correction.” Correction which must be done to bring the person back into a “right balance” with God and society. Justice is seeing and doing the right thing to correct a situation which is out of balance.
For some of us, justice is “merited” or earned by what we do or fail to do. They also view God’s love as being “merited” or earned by what they do or fail to do. Like the pharisee, they say: “I’ve done everything God has asked of me, and for this reason, I merit my reward in heaven.”
Others, like the tax-collector, say: “I have tried, but I know I’ve failed. I am a sinner. I pray that God who knows when I try and fail, looks into my heart and sees what is inside of me and not just my external actions, when balancing the scales of my life on earth and in his kingdom.”
A sinner is not an evil person. An evil person justifies any harm he does in terms of that harm being “good” and being worthy of continuation. Evil people have no desire to balance the actions of their lives. They are content in their excesses, in being out of balance. A sinner, however, recognizes that there are failings which need to be addressed and changed. A sinner seeks reconciliation, a balance with self, others, and God.
Many of us recall that ancient prayer: “Bless me father, for I have sinned.” In this prayer we do not ask for a blessing because we have sinned and want to be excused for what we have done. Nor do we say it in order to have our actions condoned so we can go on sinning. Rather we ask for a blessing, we ask for God’s help, to recognize our failures and to help bring our lives back into balance. It is with great trust in God’s love and mercy, that each of us can pray and know that our prayer will be answered when we say, as did the tax-collector, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time; October 24, 2004
Sir 35: 12-14, 16-18; 2 Tim 4:6-8, 16-18; Lk 18:9-14