THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR
Sermon by H.G Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, 5th February 2017
Today, we heard in the Holy Gospel the Parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. There were two men who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other one was a Tax Collector.
The first one when he was praying was saying: “I thank you Lord for making me not like all these other sinners that do this and that etc., and not like this Tax Collector over there”. Then he started listing the things that he does right. He was fasting, he was giving alms and from whatever he was earning as an income he was giving one tenth back. He convinced himself that he was doing the “right thing”.
The Tax Collector when he was praying could not even raise his eyes up to heaven. He was saying to God: “Lord have mercy upon me a sinner”.
The Gospel says that the second one (the Tax Collector) was justified and the not the first one (the Pharisee).
If we read the Holy Gospel carefully, we will see that whatever the Pharisee said was right. He was not unrighteous. But God did not hear his prayer and God did not justify him. This is because he was doing the right things for the wrong reasons.
We have to ask ourselves when we do something, “Why do we want to do it?”, “What makes us want to do something?” If we don’t discover deeper in ourselves truly why we want to do these things, then we may live our lives thinking we are doing the “right thing”. But at the end we may find ourselves being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven.
When the Pharisee was saying that he was fasting and he was doing this and that, they were all accurate, but he was lying to himself by thinking that he was doing these things for God.
For example, and because we all think we do the “right thing”, if I was to ask in the congregation today: “Who came to Church today for the love of God?” I don’t know how many hands I would see. And I don’t know how many would be honest. Are we all here today for the love of God? Or are we all here to follow our tradition? Or just following what we are taught? Or to show others that we go to church? Or for whatever other secondary reason?
Once there was a young adult gathering with Gerondissa Gavrilia. They asked her: “How can our kids become Saints?” And, instead of answering she asked them back: “Raise your hands how many of you were married for the Glory of God?” Of course none of them got married for the Glory of God. She then said: “If we get married for the Glory of God, our kids will then become Saints”. Something to think about.
As we are now approaching Easter, there is something we should think about more than anything else. Why do we do the things we do? And try to understand ourselves better. Because unfortunately most of the times we fool ourselves and think we are righteous, and we justify ourselves. But God knows what is there deep down in every single one of our hearts and, if our motives are not pure, we are just wasting our time.
The first one when he was praying was saying: “I thank you Lord for making me not like all these other sinners that do this and that etc., and not like this Tax Collector over there”. Then he started listing the things that he does right. He was fasting, he was giving alms and from whatever he was earning as an income he was giving one tenth back. He convinced himself that he was doing the “right thing”.
The Tax Collector when he was praying could not even raise his eyes up to heaven. He was saying to God: “Lord have mercy upon me a sinner”.
The Gospel says that the second one (the Tax Collector) was justified and the not the first one (the Pharisee).
If we read the Holy Gospel carefully, we will see that whatever the Pharisee said was right. He was not unrighteous. But God did not hear his prayer and God did not justify him. This is because he was doing the right things for the wrong reasons.
We have to ask ourselves when we do something, “Why do we want to do it?”, “What makes us want to do something?” If we don’t discover deeper in ourselves truly why we want to do these things, then we may live our lives thinking we are doing the “right thing”. But at the end we may find ourselves being excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven.
When the Pharisee was saying that he was fasting and he was doing this and that, they were all accurate, but he was lying to himself by thinking that he was doing these things for God.
For example, and because we all think we do the “right thing”, if I was to ask in the congregation today: “Who came to Church today for the love of God?” I don’t know how many hands I would see. And I don’t know how many would be honest. Are we all here today for the love of God? Or are we all here to follow our tradition? Or just following what we are taught? Or to show others that we go to church? Or for whatever other secondary reason?
Once there was a young adult gathering with Gerondissa Gavrilia. They asked her: “How can our kids become Saints?” And, instead of answering she asked them back: “Raise your hands how many of you were married for the Glory of God?” Of course none of them got married for the Glory of God. She then said: “If we get married for the Glory of God, our kids will then become Saints”. Something to think about.
As we are now approaching Easter, there is something we should think about more than anything else. Why do we do the things we do? And try to understand ourselves better. Because unfortunately most of the times we fool ourselves and think we are righteous, and we justify ourselves. But God knows what is there deep down in every single one of our hearts and, if our motives are not pure, we are just wasting our time.