The Lord told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 Then the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: God, I thank you, that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or any such thing. The tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes of everything I acquire. 13 But the tax collector stood afar off, not wanting to lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. 14 I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Explanation of my parish bulletin:

 The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector forms the end of the account of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem in Luke's Gospel (Luke 9:51-18:14). This parable emphasizes the mercy of God that He shows to a sinner who stands before him and acknowledges his unworthiness. It ends with a very important topic for Luke, which is the topic of humility.

The Lord told this parable “to some who are confident that they are righteous and despise others” (Luke 18:9). The Pharisees are a group of Jews who adhere to implementing the law and traditions literally, explaining them to the people through daily lessons in the synagogues, and ensuring that no one violates them, for example, what is forbidden or permitted on the Sabbath. The Pharisees sect included a group of scribes, that is, copyists of the Holy Scriptures, teachers of the law, and a number of priests. The followers of this group organized into religious brotherhoods to preserve themselves in a state of loyalty to the law and in a state of piety. They abused their knowledge of the law, went to extremes in its practice, forbade all contact with sinful tax collectors, limited the love of God within the limits of their horizon, and considered that they had rights over God because of their religious practices. They exaggerated the importance of Sharia law and their interpretations of it until their religion was outwardly and not internally heartfelt. We see from their behavior with Jesus how strict they were, commenting on the details and forgetting the essence. “They strain out a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 23:24).

The tax collectors were the ones who collected tithes, i.e. taxes, from the people and handed them over to the Roman administration. They treated people unfairly, collected more than was required, and made huge fortunes. The Jews hated them and prevented them from entering the temple or synagogues.

Apparently, the Pharisee’s prayer in the parable is not negative. He thanks God for His goodness in him, but this thanks contributes to fueling his pride and sense of righteousness. He does not violate the Sharia, but rather goes to extremes in practicing it, as he fasts twice a week and tithes everything he owns, and this was not required by the Sharia. Individual fasts were not imposed, but the zealous Jews practiced them on Mondays and Thursdays, and the payment of tithes only extended to agricultural products (Deuteronomy 14: 22-23).

The tax collector stood far away, not daring to approach the altar or raise his eyes to heaven. This means that he felt the sin in the depths of his being. He “beat his chest” asking for mercy. The tax collector did not enumerate his sins or discuss them. He was satisfied with relying on God's mercy and longsuffering.

An unexpected thing happened when the Master announced that the publican was justified rather than the other. The word “inferior” means that the Pharisee did not possess an iota of righteousness and did not obtain any amount of it, while the tax collector received forgiveness from God sufficient for him to return to his home justified. The fact that the Pharisee is righteous in his own eyes and based on the law does not necessarily mean that he is righteous in the eyes of God. God does not judge according to what is apparent, but rather everything that is hidden is clear before Him. Therefore, He brings down everyone who exalts Himself and exalts everyone who humbles Himself.

The message that the parable wants to convey is that justification with God is not only attained by human activity, but also by confessing sin before Him. What the Pharisee was doing in terms of avoiding sin and applying the commandments of the Sharia ultimately led, according to the Jewish understanding, to righteousness. However, it was the Pharisee’s smug attitude that withheld God’s mercy from him. As for the tax collector, who according to the Jew is a sinner par excellence, he received this mercy because of his humility and confession of his sin. It is clear from this that a person is held accountable not only for his actions, but also for the position he stands before God.

The end of the parable clearly conveys this message: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” This means that there is no one among humans who is righteous before God. Only He is righteous, and all humans are sinners. Only by their acknowledging that they are like this does God bestow His mercy upon them and grant them the righteousness that is His.

The tax collector’s prayer became the basis of the “Jesus Name Prayer”: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” which is often practiced by Orthodox monks. A large ascetic-spiritual literature has been published related to this prayer and experiencing the presence of Jesus in the heart, and some secular people have begun to recite this prayer. It is a beginning to what we call “the prayer of the heart” or permanent prayer, where the heart is lifted up to God without words.

Explanation of the Lattakia Archbishopric Bulletin:

In the Gospel text, Christ shows us two opposites: the Pharisee and the tax collector. The first seemed pious to people, unlike the second. While the Pharisee was exalted and tried to justify himself by his actions, the tax collector sighed and asked God to justify him. Pharisaism is the cancer of worship, a disease that destroys it, while the titheistic spirit is life-giving wellness and true piety.

What then is true piety, and what is righteousness and justification? Finally, how do we acquire righteousness and what is the path to it? It is not in vain that Christ compared the two human beings on the scales of the temple, for prayer reveals the interior and reflects the human being as he truly is. The secret of piety is defined by Saint Paul the Apostle through the incarnation of Christ, man’s marriage to God and his union with Him. Works are just works when they are offerings. God's calculations are mysterious, and when we exert them for the sake of union with God, they become true virtues. This distinction is necessary regarding the most important fast and the most important spiritual period at the beginning of the Triodi.

Righteousness is holiness, and holiness is deification, and deification is not moral actions, but rather union with God, who is united only by the pure in heart. Therefore, the path to justification is self-blame, not self-justification, and contempt, not amazement. Both the Pharisee and the tax collector were impressed. The first was impressed by himself, while the second was impressed by God’s mercy and love.

Self-blame is a “secret wellness,” while self-justification is a hidden cancer. Self-blame is a mystery that occurs when we encounter Christ in reverence. Self-justification is a cancer that finds us within ourselves and separates us from Jesus, our life. Let us stand and pray titheally: “O God, forgive me a sinner and have mercy on me.”

These are the doors of repentance, and whoever enters through other than this door is a thief and a thief. This is the door of heaven.