Homily on the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
(Delivered on January 11, 1915)*
By Righteous Alexei Mechev
(Delivered on January 11, 1915)*
The publican and the Pharisee came to the temple to pray. During his prayer the Pharisee boasted of his deeds and condemned others, while the publican, in deep awareness of his own unworthiness, prayed thus: “God make atonement for me the sinner.” The former the Lord condemned, and the latter He justified, saying: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:13–14).
Dear ones, if we look at outward actions rather than at the inner disposition of the heart, the Pharisee cannot at all be called a bad man. In any case, he was blameless in a civic sense and outwardly pious. And yet his prayer was rejected. On the contrary, the publican was not without sins and vices. He himself acknowledged his sinfulness, and yet his prayer was heard. Why is this so? Here is why: the Pharisee prayed arrogantly, with a disposition of spirit in which he fully revealed himself. For in prayer people show themselves as they truly are and as they live. The Apostle's words can be applied to the life of the Pharisee in the Gospels and his prayer: “Men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive… having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:2–5).
The Pharisee behaved arrogantly toward God. He entered the temple proudly, stood in front of everyone, in a conspicuous place. In him there was no sign of the reverence proper toward God and His House; he treated his neighbors with contempt. Considering himself righteous, he called other people wicked — robbers, unjust, adulterers (judging this by outward actions, falsely and wrongly interpreting them, and not by the inner disposition of the heart). Thus pride always acts: it thinks highly of itself and lowly of others.
The prayer of the Pharisee was a sinful prayer. He thanked God, but without humility and without awareness of his own weakness; he thanked God not for deliverance from grievous temptations to sin and from coarse vices, but for the fact that he was not like other people. In his words one could hear the voice of pride, which boasts of its own righteousness and turns to God not with a prayer of repentance, but with a prayer of self-praise. According to the Pharisee, there was nothing in him that needed repentance. In reality, the whole prayer of the Pharisee was addressed to his own idol of pride.
And God did not hear it.
The prayer of the publican was the cry of a soul that in humility looked upon its sins and, in the boldness of faith, called upon the mercy of God to heal the sufferings of its weakness. And God graciously hearkened to it, for He saw a man in need of His help, conscious of his own powerlessness to renew his nature. Humility made the publican worthy of God’s grace. The publican stood far off in the temple and did not dare even to lift up his eyes to heaven. He did not go forward, though he was a man of office, a tax collector and probably of good means. In the church there is no distinction. All have equal rights. The most inconspicuous place is fully sufficient from which to raise one’s prayer to the Creator.
The publican struck his breast. True, fervent prayer cannot be without outward expression. The inner movements of the heart inevitably manifest themselves outwardly. The publican begged God for atonement: “God make atonement for me the sinner.” His sole desire was to receive forgiveness of sins. In a word, in his prayer the publican showed himself as he truly was and as he lived. He prayed with humility. And “he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
Dear ones! Before us in life lie two paths: either we will follow in the footsteps of the Pharisee toward our own comfort, outward honor, and everything that feeds vanity and delights pride; or we will go after the publican, with his contrite heart and humble spirit, which makes him, in shame before a living conscience, cast his eyes down and in compunction strike his breast. The first path of earthly well-being is a path to destruction in eternal life; the second, a bitter and dark path here, will lead us to the source of light and truth.
Avoid Pharisaic pride, which tempts and casts people into destruction, making them blind. For the blind do not see the way and stumble. Is this not an image for us and for our contemporary life? Our blindness lies in the fact that we consider ourselves sighted: we are too proud. We see everything, experience everything — except our own sin; and therefore we are blind, and sin remains within us. Phariseeism is our destructive blindness. Every Pharisee, leave your pride, come with the humility of the publican to Christ, and in Him you will find illumination.
Notes:
* Published from the "Typewritten copy" from the archive of E. V. Apushkina. First published by Father Alexei Mechev. Pp. 340–341.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
