The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

Fr Andrew Gliga

Two men went up to the temple to pray. And these two men could not be more different from one to another. The first man was an honored and respected man of society. He was the ideal citizen, one who embodied all the great qualities of a good man. He was a Pharisee who followed the law of Moses and was viewed as a leader of the Jewish people. People probably saw him and thought that this man is someone I want to be like, he has everything going well for him. He fasts twice a week, he gives alms to the poor. Outwardly he had all the great qualities of a saintly man.

The other man who went to the temple that day was the complete opposite. He was a publican, IE a tax collector. Tax collectors were viewed as the lowest of the low. These publicans were employed to collect taxes for the Roman empire. Since the Roman empire conquered the nation of Israel, the Israelites saw the Romans as oppressors and occupiers. Basically taxes were levied and given to the pagan emperor only because people were under Roman rule. At the same time, the tax collectors also had an extra incentive: they would collect extra from people and in turn they become wealthy themselves. Paying taxes then was not like today where all our information is available on a computer and we could calculate ourselves how much tax we owed. Back then, a tax collector could come up and say however much he wanted to collect from someone. It could be the actual amount or more than what was owed. The person paying the taxes had no idea if the tax collector was telling the truth or not. And if the person did not want to pay taxes, then the publican would come with a Roman soldier and have the person arrested for not paying taxes.

So as we see, we have two complete opposites, one model citizen and the other who is viewed as the worst. And so only one of these men goes home justified. Anyone listening to this story would expect that the Pharisee would be justified and glorified by God for all his good deeds. And yet this was not the case. We see that the Publican, the sinful man was justified. How is this so?

The Pharisee, who did all these great things (and yes, they are truly great acts), did them with pride. He also brought judgement upon the Publican since he was criticing the tax collector in his prayer. On the other hand, the Publican brought forth the greater prayer: he repented of his sin. The publican knew that his path was not the right one, and wanted to change. He wanted to become a better man. And the only way he would be able to do so is to repent and change his path. With tears he was able to come to a deep retence, which also brought him closer to God. "The abbot Mathois said, 'The nearer a man approaches to God, the greater sinner he sees himself to be. For the prophet Isaiah saw God, and said that he was unclean and undone.'"

The Church in Her wisdom gives us rules to follow. We have strict fasting, where we give up meat, dairy, eggs, and oil, every Wednesday and Friday, as well as all the days of great lent. We have morning and evening prayers plus Akathists. We are called to attend long church services, and stand for hours upon end. These rules set to us by the Church are good and important to do, we definitely should not neglect them. And yet these unto themselves do not impart us salvation, but we need something more than just simple rules to be saved by Christ.

We see in the parable the Pharisee followed the rules as they were given. He was able to fulfill these ordinances exactly as he was called to do. And yet he missed the whole point of why we follow these commandments. It's not the rules and regulations that save us, but rather they should impart transformation upon us. When we do these things, like fasting or prayer, do we gain a spirit of repentance, a spirit of love for one another, a spirit of forgiveness of one another? This transformation is what should occur in us when we follow these rules. If we follow fasting exactly as we should, do our prayer morning and evening, attend every single Church service and yet we remain the same as we were before then we completely miss the point. When this happens we are following the letter of the law and not the spirit of the law. This is what this parable is trying to tell us: These rules we follow, should indeed change our lives and increase our repentance of our sins but also increase our love for one another.

So dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we finally come to these beginning preparatory Sundays of great lent, where we start to orient our lives towards the great feast of the Resurrection of Christ, let us begin with repentance and humility in all we do. The publican came to the Temple and he was justified because he came with tears of repentance. St Nektarios of Aegina tells us: “Repentance signifies regret, change of mind. The distinguishing marks of repentance are contrition, tears, aversion towards sin, and love of the good.” (St Nektarios of Aegina). The Publican did just this, he left the temple and began to change his former life. Let us also emulate him as we enter into Great lent. Let us begin this journey to great lent with one thing in mind: to transform our lives completely in Christ. When we complete the great fast, we should be able to look back and see that change within us, to see that we came a new person, transformed by the light of Christ.

St Gregory Palamas says: “...Repentance which is true and truly from the heart persuades the penitent not to sin any more, not to mix with corrupt people, and not to gape in curiousity at evil pleasures, but to despise things present, cling to things to come, struggle against passions, seek after virtues, be self-controlled in every respect, keep vigil with prayers to God, and shun dishonest gain. It convinces him to be merciful to those who wrong him, gracious to those who ask something of him, ready with all his heart to bend down and help in any way he can, whether by words, actions or money, all who seek his assistance, that through kindness to his fellow-man he might gain God's love in return for loving his neighbor, draw the Divine favour to himself, and attain to eternal mercy and God's everlasting blessing and grace.”

This do, and we too will be justified as the Publican was.