Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

Lectionary: 242

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

During the endless era of Watergate, I saw this parable presented in the musical Godspell in its original setting, the Ford Theater in Washington, DC; and I recall its comedy whenever I hear or read this parable. 

The Pharisee was presented by a very large woman who appeared to be admiring herself in a handheld mirror. And she played it to full effect. The tax collector was a male who knelt on the floor, looked up to heaven, and prayed, "O Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner." 

He brought down the house for everyone recognized the manner of the sitting president, Richard Nixon. And then, as the crowd roared, he raised both arms and hands and flashed the victory Vee -- another Nixon trademark. Perhaps you had to be there during the Saga, but it was a scream. 

The Pharisee, by either the Lord's or by Godspell's version, was admiring himself; and, as Saint Luke says, "speaking this prayer to himself." If God listened to him, the Pharisee might wish that He hadn't. But the faithful heard the hypocrisy and the Lord heard the cry of the poor. 

The wealthy and the powerful might enjoy the humor of the Godspell version. They might not see the irony, or feel the bite of its two-edged sword. The powerful often have little sense of humor about themselves; and irony might go right past them. They might not even notice the phony praises their sycophants heap upon them. They need yes men and admirers to fill the emptiness in their souls. Not even God's love can satisfy their craving. 

The tax collector, Jesus tells us, "went home justified." How did he know it? It wasn't a feeling; it was no more than the assurance of faith. 

Catholics leave the reconciliation room or confessional with the same assurance. They hear and believe the priest's formulaic prayer. It might be loudly declaimed or quietly whispered. It might be said in English, Spanish, Latin or any language. The masculine voice might be gravelly or mellifluous. In any case, they know they are justified: 

"God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and poured out the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit"