Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee / St. John Chrysostom; New Martyr Demetrius / 2 Timothy 3.10-15; Luke 18.10-14
F/S/HS. Brothers and sisters, this morning is the second Sunday given by mother church in preparation for entering into that season of seasons, Great and Holy Lent, a little over three weeks from now. This second Sunday, commonly called The Sunday of The Publican and the Pharisee.
Historically I have always cherished when one of you shares some writing or book with me that has meant so much to you and has nourished your spiritual life. Recently, a week ago Thursday, Niphon did exactly that: sent me a lengthy quote. The spiritual depths of this quote have stayed with me ever since. I’ve meditated on these depths time and again, finding them richly applicable to all of us, and especially to those of us who struggle with seasons of instability in our spiritual life. Do any of you, besides me, struggle with spiritual instability!
The quote meant that much more because of its author: Elder Zacharias Zachariou of St. Johns Monastery in Essex, England, who is still very much alive. As many of you know, Elder Zacharias was the cell attendant of St. Sophrony, who in turn was the cell attendant to our own St. Silouan. What’s more, the quote beautifully illustrates some of what is going on deep in the heart of the Publican in this morning’s Gospel, who Jesus extols as a model of virtuous humility.
I’ll share Elder Zacharias’ quote momentarily. But first some unpacking of this morning’s Gospel. In it Jesus shares a sparingly short parable about two men, a Pharisee and a Publican, who are in worship together, the Pharisee standing up front in the temple, the Publican standing in the back of the temple. The purpose of Jesus’ parable is to address the subject of those who trust in themselves and who believe that they are righteous before God.
Which is exactly the Pharisee’s self-perception in our Lord’s parable. He is apparently highly respected by many. He is a zealous observer of God’s Law. At one level not a lot to fault in this man. At another level, Jesus finds plenty to fault.
For one thing his prayer life, standing there in the temple and praying as he is, is not so much to God but instead with himself, to himself. V. 11: The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself and not to God!
For another thing, the content of his prayer has little to do with adoration or worship or petition to God, but rather with contrasting himself to others. God, I thank you that I am not like other men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector, a blatant reference to the publican standing just behind him, in the back of the church.
Can you imagine dear ones, one of you upfront in our worship this morning, the content of your prayer life comparing your virtuous ways to the vices of another, who is standing no far behind you!
Furthermore, this man loves to enumerate within his prayer life his many virtues. V. 12: I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. By the end of the parable, we find Jesus categorically condemning the Pharisee’s self-righteousness and self-exaltation. A lesson to all of us who have any tendency in our souls to a similar self-righteousness and self-exaltation.
Then there is the Publican, who stands in the back of the temple, his head hung in quiet prayer, O God, be merciful to me a sinner (v. 13). Over and over he prays the same prayer, a prayer that would eventually be crafted into our most famous of all Orthodox Christian prayers, The Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.
Who is this Publican? Jesus’ parable identifies him only as a tax collector (v. 13). Which has led many of our church fathers to speculate that he is none other than the tax collector Zacchaeus, who we encountered in last Sunday’s Gospel reading. If he is Zacchaeus, and because this parable precedes Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, perhaps in our Lord’s clairvoyance He is forecasting to everyone, before He even meets Zacchaeus, that there is room in God’s kingdom for such a man; that an unrighteous tax collector can indeed behave righteously and therefore be justified in God’s eyes.
All of our church fathers note that this tax collector Publican is certainly despised as a public sinner, a collaborator with the Romans, and one who cheats people. Yet something is going on deep in his heart whereby his heart, and the prayer to God that his heart prays, expresses profound humility and contrition of heart. He, in Jesus’ eyes, is the one who is justified before God, and not the self-righteous Pharisee.
St. John Chrysostom uses the very same phrase about this Publican sinner as used by Elder Zacharias in the quote that I will share with you now. This phrase is spiritual poverty. This tax collector publican is someone who, in prayerfully crying out to God to have mercy on him, is keenly aware of his spiritual poverty.
Spiritual poverty characterizes the interior life, the heart, of one who is utterly humble, who truly knows of their dependence upon God, who trusts God even though they feel entirely spiritually impoverished. Whereas one who is without spiritual poverty is dangerously tempted to be self-righteous and self-exalting.
So now I close with the lengthy quote from Elder Zacharias. Words that I hope and pray all of you meditate upon as we draw closer to the season of repentance and contrition that is Great and Holy Lent, a season designed to help us get in touch with the depths of our own spiritual poverty.
In his present state, man is characterized by the instability of his life. This instability, however, can become the cause of great spiritual progress. Afflicted by successive oscillations, he recognizes that he is unable to accomplish spiritual works that can endure the gaze of the eternal Judge. In this way, he acquires the awareness of his spiritual poverty. With this awareness, man humbles himself before God and becomes receptive to [God’s] grace and help.
Essentially, spiritual poverty is the first step in every spiritual ascent in the life of Christians. The Lord establishes spiritual poverty as the foundation of His eternal Gospel. The first of the Beatitudes in His Sermon on the Mount declares, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.
Indeed, if we seek the Kingdom of God as the ultimate purpose of our existence, nothing will aid us more in this struggle than the humility born of the awareness of our spiritual poverty. Therefore, even if we waver in our quest of the Kingdom which cannot be moved, we have a steadfast foundation upon which we can rely. We continually confess our spiritual poverty, and with the humility that this confession begets, we implore God to come to our aid and to make up for what we are lacking.
Thus, it is natural to go up and down in our spiritual life. Yet, with humility for our deficiency, we ask God to continually grant a new beginning in our lives so that we may receive from Him new mercies. In this way, we build our spiritual edifice—our eternal salvation—within the holy Kingdom of God and of His Angels, ‘with all the saints’ of all ages.
We rejoice that God has revealed His path to us, and with zeal we seek His Face. We have the intent not only to believe in Him but also to suffer with gratitude, for we do not wish to lose such a God, known and beloved, nor the joy of His infinite love with which He has loved us from the beginning. It is this love that led Him to lift His life onto the Cross so that we might be enriched with the indescribable inheritance of His gifts.
As long as man lives on earth clothed in the coarse veil of the flesh, it is impossible for him to remain unshakeable in the spiritual life. The earthly mind cannot comprehend divine infinity and the unenlarged heart cannot contain the perfect love of Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot. The soul is consumed with the desire to follow the Master ‘whithersoever He goeth’, but she wavers like a bruised reed in her ascent to greater knowledge, to a greater measure of love.
‘Christ ‘maketh all things new’ at all times. He constantly seeks an opportunity to lay the foundations for new beginnings in our lives so that He can renew His grace in us. Repeated spiritual vacillations urge us always to make a new beginning. The new mercies of God that we taste time and again beget in us a mighty gratitude like a sober drunkenness, which wells up from the heart and puts on our lips a ‘new song’ for the Lord our Saviour.’
Sisters and brothers, where we feel instability in our spiritual lives; where we feel afflicted by successive up and down oscillations in our spiritual life; know that the awareness of this instability, the awareness of these oscillations, can, if we allow it, help us draw closer to God, help us depend and trust in God’s abiding love for us. We will waver from time to time like a bruised reed in our effort to follow our Lord. But along the way of that wavering we too, like the Publican, can cry out to God in prayer, O God, be merciful to me a sinner, trusting that our Lord hears the prayerful cry of our heart. F/S/HS
