Lectio Divina: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time (2025)

Lk 18:9-14→ 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2025

This parable about prayer only appears in Luke’s gospel. Jesus tells us at the beginning that the story was about those who 'trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.’ There are three characters in this story, a Pharisee, tax collector, and the temple as the dwelling place of God.

Firstly, the Pharisees were known for insisting that the law of God should be observed They were committed to tithing and ritual purity. The Pharisee in the parable was obviously a conscientious man who went beyond the call of religious duty.

Secondly, there was the tax collector. He was a gatherer of duties on goods for the Roman Empire. He was not a good man insofar as he was charging more than the amounts stipulated by the civil authorities. Not surprisingly, tax collectors were despised by the people.

Thirdly, although there were many synagogues in Israel there was only one temple. It was the center of worship. It represented the presence of God who reigned over his people through the law. It was thought that prayer offered in the temple was particularly efficacious.

For Jews there were three special times of prayer, 9 AM, 12noon & 3PM. The Pharisee was conscientious in so far as he was in the temple at the designated time. It is significant that he stood apart by himself, i.e., not in communion with others. He suffered from excessive self-reference by using the personal pronoun “I” no less than five times. He focused in a thankful way on his own merits in God’s presence. He fasted twice a week when the law only required him to fast on the Day of Atonement. Like some very pious Jews he did so on Tuesdays and Thursdays because it was believed that Moses had ascended and descended from Mount Sinai on those days. He also mentioned that he gave one tenth of his income to charity, when the law only required the tithing of his main crops. Although he was thankful, the focus was on himself and not the Lord. His prayer was complacent and self-congratulatory. He was being put at rights with God as a result of his own good works rather than the freely given gift of God’s mercy. Not surprisingly, he looked down on the tax-collector in a contemptuous and judgmental way.

From a Jewish point of view the tax-collector was outside the law. Symbolically we are told that he stood at a distance from the Pharisee. Whereas Jews normally prayed with eyes and hands raised to heaven, the tax-collector did neither. He used his hands to beat his breast because he was overwhelmed by a shameful sense of being separated by his sins from God. He pleaded 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ It is worth mentioning in this context that the famous Jesus Prayer, which is so popular among Orthodox Christians, is based on this verse and says, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." While the tax-collector admitted that he was in need of God’s mercy, it is significant, that he made no mention of a purpose of amendment by promising to give up his sinful way of life. In spite of the truth of what the Pharisee said about his virtuous way of life, and what the tax-collector said about his sinful way of life, Jesus adjudicated that the tax-collector rather than the Pharisee went home more at rights with God.

The Pharisee was not mistaken about the good he was doing, but he seemed to be unaware that all people, including himself, fall short of the glory of God. He was aware of the splinter in the publican’s eye but unaware of the plank in his own. As a result, he seemed to believe that he was saved by his own merits, whereas the tax-collector not only realized that he was a sinner, but that only the mercy of God could save him. In this context Eph 2:8-9 seems relevant, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Although Jesus often left his parables open ended, not this one. He concluded by saying, “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."