Publican and Pharisee Sunday

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, on this Sunday we are still in the midst of the Feast of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple that took place forty days after the birth of the God-Man. In the temple we encounter with Saint Simeon the manifestation of the greatest and most extraordinary paradox since time began.

As it says in the hymns of the Church, "The Ancient of Days is carried as a small Babe in the arms of His Virgin Mother into the Temple in the fulfillment of His own law."

These words boggle the mind.

When we confront this reality, it is eminently obvious to us that there is no faith like our faith and there is a great distinction between the God of Israel and the many gods of the nations and their mythologies. The mind of man could not conceive that the Beginningless God Who created all things from nothing would become a small babe in order to fulfill a law that He gave to His creatures in order to show his love for us and in order to show us the way. Our unproud God has shown us the way to salvation through taking this path of humility.

I have read many and various tracks wherein people attempt to outline the similarities between Buddhism and Christianity or many and various other religions and Christianity and to be sure, there is no teaching or doctrine in any other religion that comes even remotely close to this.

And so now, in today’s Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee, our Savior, the God-Man reiterates this principle of humility, for He said: "Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican."

As you know, the Pharisees were strict keepers of the law and looked upon as righteous. The Publicans on the other hand we those that collaborated with the hated Roman authority to collect taxes. Furthermore, they made their fortune by overcharging the taxes and keeping the surplus, and thus they were looked upon as illegitimate members of the house of Israel.

The Pharisee stood and prayed, “O God I thank Thee...”

Thus far he made an excellent beginning, in fact, this is how spiritual men have advised that we begin all of our prayers. Then he added those foolish and infamous words: “...that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess."

And so this Pharisee looks around and judges this other man that is found in the Temple, rather than facing God alone in the Temple. When we enter the church we should understand that this is a place of judgment and we should stand to face God and speak to Him. If we spend our time in Church looking around or idly chatting we rob ourselves of spiritual profit and, perhaps, never come to an experience of real prayer. I know parents with children need to keep an eye on them, but there are times, during prayers of repentance, that, even in group prayer we need to perceive ourselves in the community of believers, yet alone before God. If we exercise the awareness that there will be that day of final judgment wherein each of us will stand alone before God and have to make a reckoning, we will not be distracted with the affairs of others and will be more intense in our efforts during these opportunities to reconcile ourselves with God.

Instead of thanking God for His grace the Pharisee compared himself with men who are under the sway of sin. Instead of comparing himself to the virtuous in order to see what was lacking in his own life, the Pharisee abandoned self-examination in order to ridicule his brother. To make things worse, he also begins to congratulate himself in his virtues.

Is it spiritually wise to count our seeming virtues and congratulate ourselves? To answer this we need only remember the words of Solomon, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble” (Prov 3:34).

The wise Saint Paul gave us a model for intelligent spiritual reflection, when he said, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3: 13-14).

Saint Anthony the Great explained a bit more for us concerning the correct attitude we all need to embrace regarding virtue and our progress therein, exhorting his disciples, “Progress in virtue is not measured by time, but by fervor and fixity of purpose.”

In other words, in the life of virtue what is done is past and will not secure us for the future. Our past deeds can illumine our minds and help us for the future, but vigilance is required. If we do not keep our fervor to fix our will to remain obedient to God, we can become complacent and negligent and loose all of our former labors. There are the many examples from past and present of men that began well and practiced virtue and confessed the faith, only later to lose sight of their purpose and become compromised and a mere shell of their former selves.

Saint John Climacus explains for us the three ways the devil tries to subvert our efforts in the virtues. First, the devil tries to prevent us from doing any virtuous deed at all. Then if he doesn’t succeed at that, he attempts to lead us astray and make sure that whatever we do, it is not done according to God. [For example; when some seeming spiritual deed is actually done not for Christ and His Church, but for a personal agenda]. And if the devil fails in all of the above, he then tries to deceive us and puff us up with vainglory for our accomplishments. This vainglory can give birth to Luciferic pride which separates one from God.

Whenever the topic of the virtues arises, the teachings of Saint Mark the Ascetic should always be included in the lesson. In his treatise On Those Who Think That They Are Made Righteous By Works, Saint Mark the Ascetic explains why it is spiritual deception to count up our virtues:

“Every good work which we perform through our own natural powers causes us to refrain from the corresponding sin; but without grace it cannot contribute to our sanctification.. The self controlled refrain from gluttony; those who have renounced possessions, from greed; the tranquil, from loquacity; the pure, from self-indulgence; the modest, from unchastely; the self-dependant, from avarice; the gentle, from agitation; the humble, from self-esteem; the obedient, from quarrelling; the self-critical, from hypocrisy. Similarly, those who pray are protected from despair; the poor, from having many possessions; confessors of the faith, from its denial; martyrs, from idolatry. Do you see how every virtue that is performed even to the point of death is nothing other that refraining from sin? Now to refrain from sin is a work within our own natural powers, but not something that buys the kingdom” (Philokalia Vol I, p. 127, Saint Mark the Ascetic).

Works are necessary, but no matter what we accomplish, we are saved by the grace and mercy of God.

The saints of God are never overly confident, but rather even after much progress and labor they are filled with humility. Saint Moses the Ethiopian was once asked to come to a gathering of the fathers and to make a judgment on a brother who was convicted of sin. At first he refused to go, but then he consented to attend. As he went put a basket filled with sand on his shoulder. This basket had a hole in it and the sand trailed behind him. When he entered the assembly, some of the brethren asked him what this meant and he said for all to hear, "I am come to judge a brother for his sins and the sands of my own sins which I do not see run out behind me."

And so, the saints teach us to hate sin and never despise the sinner. A young monk in Scete once asked one of the older monks, “What does it mean to hate sin?” The more experienced monk replied, “to hate sin is to condemn sin in ourselves, but to justify our neighbor.”

We need to hate all sins because they separate us from God, but we need to hate and fear pride all the more. We need only remember the words of Solomon, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble” (Prov 3:34).

Next in the parable, our Savior describes the example of the Publican:

“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto Heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be gracious to me a sinner.

"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Whenever we approach prayer, whenever we come to Church, we need to remind ourselves that we are here to accomplish something. If we do not come with pain in our heart, then the experience can be empty and our exercise unfruitful. No matter what station we have in life, no matter what progress we have made spiritually, it is the Prayer of the Publican, the prayer of a broken hearted, humble man that we all need to use as our model for prayer. We are all tempted in many and various ways and we offend God in ways that we do not understand, but our God is merciful. If we approach God with genuine pain of heart and abasement, our offering is accepted. “A heart that is broken and humble, God will not despise.”

We do not praise the Publican for his deeds, but for his unshakable faith in our Merciful Master and his spiritual discretion in knowing how to approach God. Saint Gregory Palamas unpacks for us one aspect of the Publican’s discretion and the depths of his pain of heart:

"...Sometimes we humble ourselves when we pray and may we imagine that we will be rewarded with the same justification as the Publican. But it is not so. We must consider the fact that the Publican was despised by the Pharisee to his face, even after he had abandoned sin, and he condemned himself with contempt, not only not contradicting the Pharisee, but joining in with his accusation against him.

"When you abandon evil doing, do not contradict those who despise or reproach you because of it. Join them in condemning yourself for what you are like and, though contrite in prayer, take refuge in the forgiveness of God alone, realizing that you are a rescued publican. Many have called themselves sinners, and so do we, but dishonor tests the heart..."

[Homilies of Saint Gregory Palamas, Translated by Christopher Veniamin, Vol. 1 p 18-19]

Saint Gregory makes a very important point. To call to mind one’s sins and to sigh for a moment is not repentance. We only repent when we take ownership for what we have done wrong and are ready to endure what it takes to be healed. The phenomena of a supposed repentance on one’s own terms that avoids the detection of Church authority is pride and spiritual deception, from which may the Lord deliver us all.

In our endeavor to encounter our Lord through prayer let us remember the following words of Saint James the Brother of the Lord:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you Cleanse your hands, ye sinner; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up” (James 4: 7-10).

When we come to Church, let us remember this parable and that the temple of God is a place of judgment wherein we each make answer for ourselves alone. If we do this we can imitate the Publican and entreat God with soul cleansing pain of heart and find reconciliation with God. Our God loves us and wishes to justify us, to purify us and make us His sons and daughters.

May God bless your efforts for this season of spiritual struggle and labor at virtue, and may you acquire spiritual wisdom. Amen.