Posted on octubre 24, 2025 View all Gospel Reflection
“The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” (Psalm 34:7)
The readings this Sunday help us to know and to hear from Jesus and the church that God is always looking to hear and attend to the poor, the suffering and the repentant. In the Gospel, Jesus compares two persons who could not possibly be at more opposed situations in public life. On the one hand you have a Pharisee and on the other hand you have a tax collector. We also take into our thought that this is a parable of Jesus and so as such it has a variety of deeper levels to teach us.
First is that we see the Pharisee boasting of all the things he does. He fasts twice a week, pays tithes on his whole income, etc. It seems clear that the Pharisee believes that by doing all of these acts he deserves to get into heaven and to be blessed by God. Even the words of his prayer point to himself and not to God. “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity…” It is also clear that the Pharisee “took up his position” (Luke 18:11) which really leads us to understand that he went to the special place of honor in the temple.
On the other hand, we see the tax collector probably at the back of the temple area bowed down (he “stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven”). He says to God “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13) He recognizes that he has sinned and failed to put God first. Tax collectors were seen as sinners by the Jews often because they collaborated with the occupying Roman regime, but also because in their positions of power they took more than they should have when collecting the taxes for the Romans. They did so without regard for the financial state of each person.
But Jesus is not focusing as much on what the tax collector did. He instead is focused on the posture of humility and recognition of his own sinfulness that is the key to salvation. “[F]or whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14) It is when we look at this position of humility that we see a powerful example both in our first reading as well as in the second reading. In Sirach, we hear that “the Lord is a God of justice … he hears the cry of the oppressed.” (Sirach 35:12) In St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, St. Paul laments how “no one appeared on behalf, but everyone deserted me.” (2 Tim. 4:16) In spite of this, St. Paul asks that it not be held against them because he knows that “the Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.” (2 Tim. 4:18)
As we reflect on our sinfulness and actions this week, we are invited to ask ourselves if we say prayers “to ourselves” in a prideful manner, or if we humble ourselves before the Lord recognizing our great need for the mercy of God and his grace to grow in holiness. If we approach Christ each day with humility and a desire to grow in holiness, he will always stand by our side and shower us with the graces we need to continue to grow in our love of Him.
