NOTES for Luk 18:10-14
We often make one mistake with regard to this text. We judge the Pharisee too easily. But we forget that we must remember that apparently he really was righteous. And righteousness is worth no small thing. But the Lord calls us to understand that righteousness alone is not enough. What exactly does the Pharisee lack? The first thing that comes to mind is that he lacks a broken heart (Ps 33), or the New Testament quality closest to it, poverty of spirit. He lacks repentance. This is precisely why this text is also assigned to the beginning of Great Lent. But repentance is not only awareness of one's sinfulness and a plea for forgiveness. It is something more. It is something that joins us to one another as nothing else can. For we always see another person's sins very well, and awareness of our own sinfulness softens our heart toward the sins of other people. Let us remember the words from the Letter of James: For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. (Jas 2:13). Repentance is not so much a request to God to lighten the judgment over me personally as it is mercy toward neighbors. And this too we often forget when reading the text of today's reading. For beating one's breast can sometimes even be very pleasant, when we read the text about the condemnation of the Pharisee and the justification of the tax collector only superficially.