Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

Kondak for the Publican and the Pharisee, Tone 4: Let us flee the bragging of the Pharisee, and learn the humility of the Publican, while crying out unto the Saviour with groanings: Be gracious unto us, O Thou Who alone dost readily forgive.

The Gospel According To St. Luke 18: 10-14

10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank You that I am not like other men— extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be abased, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

The Doors of Repentance

“Open to me the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life….” So sings the Church today at Matins of this first of four Sundays preparing us for Great Lent. This Sunday ought to be considered as a door by which we enter into the sacred time of year leading us to Pascha, a door giving us access to the life of repentance and conversion which Lent ought to bring each of us. “Repentance” (Greek: metanoia) means “a change of mind,” inner change. What Great Lent demands of us is radical change, renewal, conversion.In the Church’s calendar this first Preparation Sunday is called “The Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.” In order to call us to real repentance, the Church puts before our eyes the image of two men who go up to the Temple to pray; one of them is put into a new relationship with God because of his humility and contrition. This Gospel Reading is the most dangerous of the parables. We so condemn the Pharisee that we actually say: “In spite of my sins, I at least am not a Pharisee, not a hypocrite.” The Pharisee’s prayer is not all bad. Most of what he says is true. He even recognizes that his good actions come from God.

The Pharisee sins in two ways. He lacks repentance and humility. He has no sense of his weaknesses, of the sins which he does commit, like all other men. He compares himself with the tax collector in pride, with a certain scorn. Have we the right to condemn the Pharisee, to think ourselves better than he, when we violate the commandments  which he observes? Do we have the humility and repentance of the tax collector? If we condemn the Pharisee for pride, without actually becoming the Publican, we ourselves become Pharisees. The tax collector only asks for mercy. He sees his own need for forgiveness. “This man went to his house in a right relationship with God, but not the other.”

Is the tax collector “justified” only because he confessed his sin and stood before God in humility? There is more. His prayer is an appeal to God’s tenderness made in confidence. What Jesus demands of us as we repent is this abandonment, this absolute confidence in the Father’s mercy and compassion. The Church hymns draw the conclusion and give us today’s main thought: “Lord, You condemned the Pharisee when he justified himself and boasted about his actions; You justified the tax collector when he approached in humility, asking pardon of his sins; for You reject arrogant thoughts, but You do not turn away from contrite hearts. Before You we also fall down in adoration. Grant us Your pardon and Your great mercy!”

Anon from The Living Word Vol 2