Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
No one thinks of himself as being convinced of his own righteousness. Yet, in large measure, we often are. After all, if we were not, wouldn't we be trying to rectify that situation? Our contentedness with our current level of righteousness mirrors the degree to which we are convinced of it. The fact that we imagine ourselves to not be in need of mercy, having, perhaps, already obtained as much of it as we imagine would be helpful, leads us to the edge of despising others who seem less well situated. We think that we are fine, and fine largely because of our own wisdom and choices. We may have sympathy for those distant indigenous peoples who have not yet heard the Gospel. But we assume that anyone in modern society who was truly interested in coming to and living in the light could have found it if they wanted. We tend to impute any kind of moral deficiency in others to fully intentional malice, that they are either too lazy or indifferent to correct. We delude ourselves into thinking that we have already won a moral struggle that everyone else could have won if they had cared enough to try. Isn't it tempting to try to take credit for the fact, that we, like the Pharisee, are meeting our basic moral and spiritual obligations? When we supposedly offer God thanksgiving for suchlike are we in fact speaking this prayer more to ourselves than to him?
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself
When we finally surrender one thing to God, whether our pertaining to greed, honesty, lust, or some other vice, we do not typically immediate find our entire heart surrendered along with it. Each moral victory leads only to another level where we find something even deeper and more intractable. As we give more of our heart over to God we discover, if we look honestly, how much is still left to give. This could lead us to despair if we wanted to demand a situation of moral self-sufficiency. But although full surrender to Jesus is the ideal we pursue, it is a life long process to achieve it. And once it is attained we still must reckon with the fact that it wasn't really about something that we ourselves achieved, but rather something God accomplished in us. And only if we persist in that attitude of total dependence will we be able to avoid collapsing under the weight of pride. Throughout life we will always continue to pray, "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof". The prayer "O God, be merciful to me a sinner" will always be valid, as long as this life lasts.
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
When we hear this attitude of the tax collector we may be moved to wish him to understand how much God is waiting to welcome him, how much he, like the father of the prodigal son, desires to show him mercy. But this current attitude of his is a necessary step along the way to the house of the Father. It cannot be bypassed without resulting in presumption, and sliding into the belief that the mercy he received was not actually unearned and unexpected, as in fact it was. Instead, because the tax collector was able to clearly see his own unworthiness he was able to more completely receive the surprising mercy of God that allowed him to go home justified. When we get into the habit of regular reception of divine mercy we are often tempted to take it for granted. But we must not skip the middle step of humility and penitence on the way home to the Father, if we want his mercy to have a maximal effect in our own lives.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
The Pharisee did many things correctly but they were spoiled by his attitude and intentions. The tax collector no doubt did many things wrongly, and omitted many he ought to have done. But they were outweighed by his appropriate attitude and intentions. The works of the Pharisee were insufficient to justify him. But the faith implicit in the attitude of the tax collector was sufficient. Paul too understood that the crown of righteousness is not awarded so much on the basis of righteous actions as it is on the basis of desire for the Lord. This faith and desire is the only way that we can reliably perform righteous actions without them becoming twisted in the snares of our own ego. They keep us from saying prayers to ourselves and offer good works for the sake of self-aggrandizement. Our desire for the Lord is itself meant to become a more firm foundation for good works, ones which can no longer derail us from the path to true holiness.
David W. Morris - Let Us Exalt His Name
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