Traditional Catholic Teaching - Lesson 13

Lesson 13 - Supplement B

He Who Humbles Himself Shall Be Exalted

Luke 18: 9 – 14

(CCD version)

Introduction

The CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) version of the Bible (1952), quoted below, literally translates the opening of our text as, "But he spoke this parable also to some……" (NASB is similar.) In other words, having outlined some critical material on the correct attitude to prayer for his followers, i.e. to foster a spirit of constant prayer in one's heart and to be assured of God's comforting support, Jesus also drew dramatic attention to the danger among his followers of spiritual arrogance. This parable is therefore intended as a powerful and decisive warning against allowing any notions of religious superiority to develop among his present and future followers. St Luke uses this parable as a transition from a focus on prayer to one of justification (Langrange).

Some Notes On The Text

Verse 9

Our text begins where the parable of the Persistent Widow left off:

But he spoke this parable also to some who trusted in themselves as being just and despised others.

We need to get the scene right if we are to get the right message. This parable is not addressed to the Pharisees as a group but to the followers of Jesus, some of whom we know were devout and honourable Pharisees. As mentioned above, it is a warning to any among his followers who were in the habit of relying on their own self-perfection, and denying the holiness of others. It is therefore not addressed to any particular class, sect or level. The danger can be present anywhere among Christ's followers. Our Lord requires his followers to be extremely vigilant that they do not fall into the trap of blaming the ills of the world on everybody else but themselves. They will indeed be surrounded by much which is abominable to God. They are, however, to give priority to getting their own house in order before they criticise others. Jesus is not denying the presence of evil in the world but insisting his followers recognise its presence in themselves and take responsible action.

Even at this stage, our Lord can identify among his followers some of the arrogance and elitism they so quickly detect in others. By making such a strong stand about this he is clearly consistent with other Orthodox Jewish teachers such as Hillel the Elder who said:

"Do not separate yourself from the community; trust not in yourself until the day of your death, judge not your fellowman until you have come into his place."

Verse 10

Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.

The first thing we notice is that the setting is at a time of prayer in a very holy place. Without any details (which were not necessary in those times) we are given two characters. These are mentioned as distinct types: opposite classes of characters. The Pharisee represents the moral, the respectable, and the externally correct. The publican or tax collector represents the wicked, the profligate, and the utterly irreligious. We should recall a few facts about both, as they are essential to draw the right conclusions.

The Pharisees evolved around our Lord's time, or a little earlier, as a courageous, loyal and devout movement determined to hold the onslaught of pagan culture and religion from devastating their faith. Inevitably, this gave rise to the need to draw limits to the communication they would have with harmful, foreign religion. They tried in all sincerity to promote a position, in an occupied country, rather similar to the Christian concept of "being in the world, but not of it". Thus there was always a need for balance, and maintaining at the forefront, the reasons for pursuing such a way of life.

The tax collectors, on the other hand, saw themselves as pragmatists: "If you can't beat them, join them!" They were virtually collaborators with the Romans and exercised enormous control over their own people, thus performing the role of lackeys to the Roman overlords.

Verses 11 and 12

The Pharisee stood and began to pray thus within himself: "O God, I thank thee that I am not like the rest of men, robbers, dishonest, adulterers or even like this publican. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I possess".

The Pharisee stood in the traditional stance assigned for certain forms of prayer. There may be a hint that he stood very erect rather than in a partial bow, but we cannot be sure. God gets a brief mention, and fades quickly. The man is right, of course; he is none of the things he lists, nor does he scourge his own people the way the tax collector does.

It could be said he didn't pray at all; he simply listed his virtues to parade before God. He fasted even more than God required. He gave tithes over things which God did not command to be tithed, i.e. of all his possessions.

In a sense, he "has God cornered". God is his debtor and he betrays an attitude of now having God under an obligation. He has carefully chosen the things in which it suits him to excel, and then he leaves the Temple confident that neither God nor man can deny that what he said was correct. He is therefore quite out of character with the Scripture he is supposed to stand for:

"For thus says the high and lofty one,
Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place,
And also with those who are contrite
and humble in spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite."

Isaiah 57: 15

Judged by authentic Jewish criteria, the so-called prayer of the Pharisee is, therefore, not acceptable to God, and is rejected.

Verse 13

But the publican standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast saying, "O God, be merciful to me the sinner!"

This man also stood for prayer, but adopted an obvious aspect of humility, "at a distance". Looking down, he kept beating his breast and kept repeating his brief plea before God. His prayer was entirely Biblical and is found often in the Psalms.

The more literal translation is, "O God be merciful to me the great sinner." In other words "I am the very sinner the Pharisee has just described!"

The words "have mercy" refer not to some physical need or distress but to a spiritual predicament he acknowledges himself to be in. He sees himself as he really is and knows he cannot help himself. He can only plead for forgiveness and healing.

This man's prayer is acceptable, and therefore reaches the very throne of God.

Verse 14

Jesus reports the outcome:

I tell you, this man went back to his home justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

Let's look at this verse closely in its literal form.

"I tell you…." is a way of emphasising a truth to be taken note of.
"this man went down to his home…." (ie back home)
"in the right relationship with God more than the other…." – or rather than the other. The term "right relationship" (or having been justified) points to a relationship that will last henceforth – meaning he was healed of a spiritual affliction. The Greek original text implies that God was the agent of delivery from an evil life repented.

Summing up – look what a good confession can do!

It is wonderful news but a warning nevertheless. Many people describe how, by the time they come to the end of our Lord's parable, they find themselves thinking, "Thank goodness I'm not like that Pharisee!" At this point they feel they have fallen into the same trap as he did. Our Lord does not send anyone on a guilt trip, but rather uses parables to show us what we are sometimes like. This is meant to help open to us new windows of insight into how to avoid distraction from the goal he has pointed us towards, or rather, calls us into. Obviously, he sees one of the quickest ways of going off track is to compare ourselves to others to our own advantage. We would therefore be hypocrites to point the finger at the Pharisees in this story, or anyone else in our society until we have examined our own performance honestly and humbly.

Relationship Between True Prayer and Justification

For those who would like a little in depth scholarship, the following three paragraphs are from "The Gospel of Saint Luke" by Joseph Dillersberger, Newman Press 1958.

What Our Lord wanted to show was what must be man's standpoint in God's sight, if he is to satisfy God and to occupy his right place before Him. It is not by piling up the list of his good works, but by confessing his sinfulness and by imploring God's grace that man can stand before God. In other words, he cannot, relying on himself, stand before God at all. It is God's grace and mercy alone which can forgive his sins, make him righteous and justify him.

In this way does man's fortune take a turn for the good, with a humble and contrite heart and also with a cry clearly directed to God Himself in person. It is not enough for him to have a humble recognition of his own sinfulness in general; he must also know Who it is Whom he has thus offended, and Whose grace he has to implore. Thus in the publican's prayer are to be found in a most striking way all those elements which have later been declared to be the essentials of perfect contrition. What above all seems so important is the clear personal way in which God and man approach one another. What a weight hinders the Pharisee from ever managing to look at the essential point, God on one side and himself on the other — even that thought alone, quite apart from any question of justification, would be true prayer.

This parable conveys a wonderful and important message. All that is necessary is true prayer, and justification follows at once. Herein lies an initial fulfilment of that mighty promise that God will quickly revenge His Elect. This justification falls far short of the full meaning of that word "revenge," but it is the first step towards it. First man must be "justified" by God's grace before the words "elect" and "revenge" on their behalf become appropriate. So this initial event is the decisive one, everything else is built upon it. It is not stated in more detail either when it happens or how it is preserved and maintained. Only one thing is certain; without this justification in the sight of God, there is no entry for anyone into the Kingdom.

From "The Gospel of Saint Luke" by Joseph Dillersberger, Newman Press 1958.

Conclusion

Shall we take a leaf from the ancient rabbis whom Jesus would have loved: This was a favourite saying of the Rabbis of Yarneh:

"I am a creature of God, and my neighbour is also his creature; my work is in the city and his is in the field; I rise early to my work and he rises early to his. As he cannot excel in my work, so I cannot excel in his work. But perhaps you say, I do great things and he does small things. We have learned that it matters not whether a man does much or little if only he directs his heart to Heaven."

End of Lesson 13 Supplement B

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