From the Desk of Father John
October 26, 2025
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In the Gospel this week, we hear the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee. St. Luke mentions, “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.” (Luke 18:9) Are we convinced of our own righteousness?
This Gospel passage immediately follows from last week’s Gospel on the parable of the persistent widow, where Jesus called us to persistence in prayer and that devotedness in seeking Him. In our disposition for prayer, we are not meant to be like the Pharisee, but to humble ourselves like the tax collector. For a better understanding of this parable, we can look to the historical context. Tax collectors during the time of Christ were despised and treated as traitors by the Jewish authorities. They were members of the Jewish community who cooperated with the occupying Roman force and helped inform on their fellow countrymen to the Romans. Many times they extorted those whose taxes they collected. They forced them to pay higher taxes than what Rome required and kept the surplus.
If you have ever watched the famous series, The Chosen, you may remember the very first episode of the series when the character depicting St. Matthew is introduced. In the very first episode of season 1, Matthew is depicted as trying to get to his customs post. He hides and doesn’t walk about publicly because of the severe ridicule and mockery with which he was treated. Due to their allegiance with the Romans, tax collectors were viewed as very low on the social scale and were roundly mocked. Despite their waywardness and their thievery, Jesus intentionally used the image of a tax collector in the Gospel this week to show us that it doesn’t matter who we are in the eyes of the world when approaching our relationship with God. God doesn’t judge us based on our social status, accomplishments or external appearance. He judges us based on our hearts. In the eyes of God, we are all equal. He has not made one of us better than another because everything we have is a gift from Him. Our ultimate dignity comes from being formed in His image and likeness.
The Pharisee in the Gospel this week mentions, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'” (Luke 18: 11-12) In his pride and conceit, the Pharisee is spiritually blind. He believes in the illusion that he himself is a good person and better than others. This is not true holiness and can be a subtle temptation for each of us. In comparison to others we can come to think or believe in our own righteousness or saintliness. It is like comparing already dirty water with even more filthy and polluted water in order to call the dirty water clean.
Following the Lord’s parable in the Gospel this week, we are not called to be better than others, but to recognize that we are all sinners in need of God’s love and mercy. God calls us not to a comparative holiness with others but to true holiness as mentioned in the book of Leviticus, “For I, the LORD, am your God. You shall make and keep yourselves holy because I am holy.” (Lev 11:44) Following the disposition of the tax collector, may we approach the Lord with humble and contrite hearts, not with the pride of the Pharisee, but as sinners in need of forgiveness trusting in His mercy.