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January 11/24, 2010.
Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
Saint Matthew; 4: 12 – 17. Saint Luke; 18: 10 – 14
Ephesians; 4: 7 – 13. II Timothy; 3: 10 – 15
St. Basil the Great says to us:
“The stern Pharisee, who in his arrogance and conceit not only boasted of himself but also discredited the tax collector in the presence of God, made his justice void by being guilty of pride. Instead of the Pharisee, the tax collector went down justified, because he had given glory to God, the holy One. He did not dare lift his eyes but sought only to plead for mercy. He accused himself by his posture, by striking his breast, and by entertaining no other motive except regaining God’s good will. Be on your guard, therefore, and clear in mind this example of severe loss sustained through arrogance. The one guilty of insolent behavior suffered the loss of his justice and forfeited his reward by his bold self-reliance. He was judged inferior to a humble man and a sinner because in his self-exaltation he did not await the judgment of God but pronounced it himself. Never place yourself above anyone, not even great sinners. Humility often saves a sinner who has committed many terrible transgressions.”
God has given each and every one of us great gifts. Now, like any gift we need to take that gift and make it work not only for us, but for anyone who needs the benefits of our gift. We need to build on these gifts and not ignore them or say when someone compliments us on what we can do, “oh, it’s nothing .” Well it isn’t nothing, it’s a gift from God for our use to help others. Think about that. To say, “oh, it’s nothing,” is our pride showing forth. We should be proud but not of ourselves, we should be proud of God because He has blessed us with an ability that not everyone has.
IT’S A GIFT!
We must treat it as such. We must care for it and offer it to others. We do not own the gift but are responsible for offering it to others as a gift because that is how we have received it. Try it next time someone comes to you for your help. With this attitude your gift will be sincerely appreciated.
We must understand that by being a Christian, we become followers of Christ. Along with the gift that we receive we must also understand that this gift comes, in some cases, with great suffering. If we choose an attitude of rejection towards our suffering we turn on the passion of pride. If we choose an attitude of acceptance towards our suffering we turn on the passion of humility. The two attitudes towards these passions have a direct relationship to the severity of the suffering.
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” This is a good example of what I have just tried to say. Evil men and seducers choose an attitude of rejection toward their suffering and as a result they turn on the negative which results in them suffering even more.
Now taking this and applying it back to the Publican and the Pharisee, we can see that the Pharisee ended up unjustified while the Publican, was granted justification. Humility is the key. If we can see everyone around us as being better than we are, that is, that we place and respond to them as being superior to us, we will show respect to them allowing them to show respect to us. Just remember it is more important how you respond to them than how they respond to you. They too have free will and they will choose who they will become, a Publican or a Pharisee.
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