“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
In Nomine etc..
Whom is Jesus talking to in this story? Previously in chapter 17 and this chapter, 18, he has been talking alternately to Pharisees, disciples, lepers. Now it seems that he is talking to a fourth group, or perhaps to a subset of disciples, or maybe to another group altogether. In any case, they’re called “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt,” without any other descriptor. And he’s speaking to them, not about them to others. He’s addressing a group with an attitude problem, and their attitude, contempt, is a symptom of a spiritual problem, their trust in their own righteousness. And that problem, of course, breaks down into two other problems, their trust in themselves, and their confidence in their righteousness.
Jesus chooses a Pharisee to illustrate the nature of this spiritual problem. The Pharisee, as we heard, thanks God for his religious and moral correctness. He reminds God that he fasts regularly each week (Wednesdays and Fridays, perhaps?), and he makes sure that God knows that he tithes the way he’s supposed to. The Pharisee directs God’s attention to the tax collector, whose moral inferiority the Pharisee takes for granted; he apparently expects God to take it for granted as well. It is interesting to consider how the Pharisee knows that he is a tax collector; he is “standing far off,” and should be hard to notice. Is the tax collector wearing a badge or uniform? The Scripture doesn’t say. It’s possible that the tax collector dresses better than the Pharisee, since the tax collector, who is a contractor working for the Roman government, makes money off the difference between what he owes the government and what he can extract from taxpayers in his territory. He likely can afford to dress well. Be that as it may. The contempt of the Pharisee is obvious in any case, and he expects God to share in it.
The Pharisee is, according to his lights, religiously and morally correct. He prays, he thanks God for his abilities, he avoids moral and criminal failure, he follows the rules for fasting and generous giving, and of course he knows whom to avoid. Really, he’s a pillar of his community and local synagogue. They’re proud of him, actually. He can be depended upon for support when it’s needed; he’s an example of a model religious life. So what is the problem here?
Jesus is expecting us to make a connection between “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous” and the Pharisees. Jesus doesn’t actually state that connection explicitly, but it’s pretty clear. And this trust in themselves leads straight to contempt for others. To understand why this happens, Jesus introduces his hearers to the prayer of the tax collector.
“God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Both the Pharisee and the tax collector have one thing in common: they speak to God in prayer. That’s all. There the comparison ends, and the prayers diverge. The tax collector acknowledges his sinfulness, and describes God as merciful. The Pharisee does neither. Since the Pharisee does not admit, is not aware of, his sinfulness, it doesn’t occur to him that God is, or could be, merciful. The Pharisee mistakes his religion for God, and mistakes the rules of his religion for God’s thoughts. His mind is a closed system, a false self, which he mistakes for reality. This gives the Pharisee the confidence to trust in himself, and leads him to the contemptuous rejection of the tax collector. After all, if God disapproves of the tax collector, the Pharisee can do no less.
The tax collector does not imagine that his thoughts are God’s thoughts. He trusts, not in his own imagination, not in the apparent neatness of a religious system that sorts people into righteous and unrighteous, Pharisees and tax collectors; rather, he trusts in the divine reality whose nature is to have mercy. He does not have a high view of his moral and religious accomplishments. He does not even look to heaven. He has his feet, and his soul, on the ground, in reality.
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” 'Humbled' comes from 'humility' which comes from 'humus', meaning earth, so to be humble, or to humble oneself, is to keep oneself, to place oneself, on the solid ground, the solid earth, of reality, human and divine. That is what enables the tax collector to know and ask for God’s mercy. He has not exalted himself, he has not detached himself from the reality around him and lost himself in his own imagination, a false self, mistaking it for God. He can reach God, and God can reach him, as he stands on the solid earth of true awareness. That is what Jesus means when he says, “this man went down to his home justified.” He went to his “home”, to his true self, as “justified”, aware of his real relationship to God, founded in mercy.
Who are we in this story? Are we exalted Pharisees, proud of our religious and moral correctness, excluding those who don’t meet our exact requirements, imagining that our way is God’s way? Or are we, like the tax collector, aware of ourselves as sinful, as out of touch with our true selves? Are we aware that we are supported by God’s mercy? Are we aware, as the tax collector is aware, that we are on our way to our true selves, our true homes, justified, accepted by God? Do we keep in mind the divine promise, the last line of today’s Gospel, that “all who humble themselves will be exalted?” This includes, remember, even those who exalt themselves, for, once they are humbled, once they have their feet on true ground, and once they accept it, they too will be exalted, not by themselves but by God, they too will find their true home, their true selves, in God.
In Nomine etc.. (26.X.19 Adv)
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