Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee

Ambon Prayer 15

Our Venerable Father Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna, The Holy Martyr Silvanus, Bishop of Emessa and Companions, Our Venerable Father and Confessor Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople

Title

Look within for the Right Comparison

Outline

Decades ago the main counseling book was “I’m OK, You’re OK”

The point of the book was that when one got to the point that no one was “not OK,” the other three quadrants of the square, you were healthy.

The problem is that at least socially, if what turns your crank is offing people with your trusty AR-15 or abusing children, you are not OK. We can and must leave ultimate judgment up to God - we do far too much of it - but there is a need for a “you’re not OK” message if society is to function.

Likewise, if those activities are my way of life, I am “not OK” if I think I am fine. In fact, I am sick, or so twisted that I seem to be channeling evil.

Tolerance is good until we start tolerating clear evil - but to have a clear evil, one must have a standard

Paul sets for his standard for Timothy and his community to follow

First, there is the positive side: “my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness.” This is rooted in a tradition long before Paul: “from childhood you have been acquainted with the Sacred Writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” Do this and you are OK.

Second, there is the negative side: “my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” If you are truly following the lifestyle of Paul, you will be rejected by the culture around you. You may live quietly and avoid notice for a while, but remember how many saints down the ages were martyred, exiled (St John Chrysostom), or mistreated in other ways. In the culture’s eyes they were “not OK.”

Now the two go together, for one can be persecuted for simply being nasty and unpleasant. So for persecution to be a positive mark, it must be because one can say that one’s life is truly like Paul’s.

Jesus gives the example of how to example oneself

The negative example is that of the Pharisee, whom others would have recognized as following the Torah carefully (according to his school of interpretation). The problem is that he is not comparing himself to the Torah absolutely, but congratulating himself on what he is doing right and comparing himself favorably with those who in his eyes do not do right, the “other men” who are “not OK.” The first three categories are condemned in the Torah, true enough, but tax collectors are not mentioned there. He is not asking God to take him deeper or open his eyes to clearer sight.

The positive example is that of the tax collector. He is not comparing himself to the Pharisee or anyone else other than God and his holiness. He knows that of himself he is “not OK,” and therefore he depends on the mercy of God. We do not know that he has done anything especially bad, but he knows that he is not all the God is calling him to: “be merciful to me a sinner.”

God alone is the judge of all the earth, and the two men leave the presence of God, the one has not been declared “OK” by God, not “justified,” while the other, whether or not he feels it, has been declared “OK.”

Brothers and sisters, this story is for us

While there are situations in which we have responsibility for the behavior of others (where we have responsibility), our basic concern is ourselves.

When looking at ourselves use the right standard, not that which society at large uses, but the Scriptures, the apostolic example, and particularly the life and teaching of Jesus.

With this in mind, you can live humbly and repentantly before God, trusting in his mercy and his help to grow in holiness.

You may well be persecuted by others, but you will know within yourself that although you are “a sinner,” you are declared by God “OK.”

Readings

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 2-13-2022: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee

EPISTLE

2 Timothy 3:10–15

10 Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11  my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceivers and deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the Sacred Writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 2-13-2022: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee

GOSPEL

Luke 18:10–14

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12  I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (2-06-2022: Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2022 | TRIODION AND GREAT LENTSUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN AND PHARISEEMatins Gospel Matthew 28:16–20 (34th Sunday)

Epistle 2 Timothy 3:10–15

Gospel Luke 18:10–14

Ambon Prayer 15

Our Venerable Father Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna, The Holy Martyr Silvanus, Bishop of Emessa and Companions, Our Venerable Father and Confessor Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople