Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

THE TAX COLLECTOR

            Tax collectors were allies of the Roman authorities. They lobbied for appointments as civil servants and magistrates. They were well known for their notorious attitude with respect to their blatant corruption and exhortation in dealing with both Jews and Gentiles. For instance, they inflated official taxes to their benefit and were therefore regarded by the Jews as “Sinners” and “outcasts”.

            Early Christian thinking about taxation was shaped by an environment in which taxes were oppressive and rapaciously administered. New Testament passages dealing with taxation do not amount to a systematic ethic or philosophy of taxation but instead convey the basic Christian teachings of respect for government, “freedom in subordination,” and love of neighbor.

             Finance and accounting appear to be indispensable to an ordered society. People, governments, and religions have come and gone; civilizations have developed and decayed, but bookkeeping in one form or another has attended their birth and death. Tax collectors have been part of human history, though they may not have a good name. Luke gives his readers an “example story”, highlighting the exemplary prayer style of a tax collector and makes it clear that in prayer the reader is to have the attitude of the tax collector and to avoid the Pharisee’s attitude. To “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37) is the obvious exhortation – so much so that this interpretation of the parable in its Lukan context is available to virtually any reader.

            The Gospel of the two men praying in the temple, the Pharisee and the tax collector, reveals what kind of prayer penetrates to God. We notice a difference even in their respective postures. The one stands “with unbowed head” as if the temple belongs to him, while the other “keeps his distance”, as if he has crossed the threshold of a house in which he really does not belong.

            The first one prays “to himself”, really not even praying to God but reviewing for himself the list of his virtues, assuming that, when God himself notices them, he will respect them and marvel at them. Moreover, this man catalogues his virtues as a means of setting himself off from “other men”, none of whom have attained his level of perfection. He is traveling the road of “self-discovery”, which is precisely the path of “loss of God”. The Jewish law prescribed only one absolutely obligatory fast – that on the Day of Atonement. But those who wished to gain special merit fasted also on Mondays and Thursdays. It is noteworthy that these were the market days when Jerusalem was full of country people. Those who fasted whitened their faces and appeared in disheveled clothes, and those days gave their piety the biggest possible audience. The Levites were to receive a tithe of all a man’s produce (Numbers 18:21; Deuteronomy 14:22). But this Pharisee tithed everything, even things which there was no obligation to tithe. His whole attitude was not untypical of the worst in Pharisaism. The Pharisee did not really go to pray; he went to inform God how good he was and he was not lying, he told the truth but what he did wrong was taking credit for his good deeds instead of giving all credit to God. Another thing he did wrong was to judge his neighbor, the tax collector. And that is one thing that the Lord thoroughly detests, as the Bible tell us. In Matthew 7:1, for instance, Jesus says categorically, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judge”, and in verse 3, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?”

            The tax collector meanwhile prayed a simple prayer: “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.” He was not lying either, neither was he pretending. He was a sinner alright. But he was humble enough to admit it and his need for the Lord’s forgiveness. Precisely for that reason, Jesus says that he went home at rights with God. That is to say he did not go home a sinner anymore, but he went home a righteous man. The Pharisee, on the other hand, did not go home at rights with God. That is to say, even though he might have come to the Temple a righteous man, he did not go home a righteous man. He forfeited his righteousness because he lacked humility to realize his need for the Lord’s forgiveness, and because he presumed to judge his neighbor.

            This is what happens when people go around telling everyone, including God himself – by word and action – how good and righteous they are, and when they sit in judgement over their neighbors. They do not go home at rights with God. This parable unmistakably tells us certain things about prayer and the following are some few lessons:

            Firstly, no one who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save upon their knees. Secondly, no one who despises others can pray. In prayer we do not lift ourselves above others. We remember that we are one of a great army of sinning, suffering, sorrowing humanity, all kneeling before the throne of God’s mercy. Thirdly, true prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God. No doubt all that the Pharisee said was true. He did fast; he did meticulously give tithes; he was not like other people; still less was he like that tax-collector. But the question is not, ‘Am I as good as my neighbor?’ The question is, ‘Am I as good as God?’

            Have you sometimes caught yourself adding up the good things that you do for God and the Church: you go to Mass regularly, receive the sacraments, say your rosary, visit the Blessed Sacrament, you keep the Ten Commandments, and so on? Have you, by any chance, been quietly condemning other people who you believe, rightly or wrongly, are not doing these things, then you are a perfect example of a modern-day Pharisee.

            The first reading offers us a great lesson, when the author states: “The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds”, although we must remember that “lowly” or “poor” here does not mean someone who lacks money, rather, someone poor in virtues, someone who knows he does not meet God’s standards. Yet recognizing this void alone is not enough, rather, the text clearly says, “Whoever serves God willingly will be heard.” In the second reading we find Paul in prison and in court. He is the poor man whose case does not look hopeful from an earthly standpoint. He is close to death and yet, he “has fought the good fight”, not only while he was free, but even in his present poverty, abandoned by all during his court hearing. Yet his lonely self-defense before the court becomes precisely his final, decisive “proclamation” of the gospel for “all the nations to hear”. By honoring only God (like the tax collector in the temple), he will be “rescued” by the Lord and “brought safely into his heavenly kingdom”. The tax collector was “justified”, Paul receives “the crown of righteous” – a crown made up not of his own righteousness, as he never tires of repeating, but of God’s.

            How about this for a simple rule to guide us: if you are conscious of yourself as being righteous, then you are most certainly not righteous. You are a Pharisee! By the same token, if you are conscious of yourself as being humble, then you are most certainly not humble. You are carrying a heavy load of pride inside your head. Pray that you are not infested with the cancer of religious pride; for healing may be hard to come by.