In Sunday’s gospel, we have a clear contrast in how we should come before the Lord, not just on judgment day, but every day. We are given the example of the Pharisee and that of the tax collector, both who come to the temple area to pray. The demeanor of the Pharisee is that of self-promotion. He says, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector.” Then notice that his approach before God is to “make his own case.” He says, “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” His strategy is to remind God of how good he has been.
By contrast, we are given the example of the tax collector who the gospel says, “stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’” This man humbled himself before the Lord and his strategy in prayer was to beg for mercy. The Pharisee was convinced of his own righteousness and despised everyone else while the tax collector humbled himself and asked for forgiveness. Whether it be on judgment day or on any day, Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Humbling ourselves is not our preference. Rather, people often want to ‘to make a name for themselves,’ to be recognized, noticed, promoted and preferred. To be humble, simple, remain in the background, passed-over and unnoticed is for some such a blow to their ego. This leads to feelings of rejection, isolation, inadequacy, and being flawed in some way. Yet Jesus says, “the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” This calls for great trust in the Lord, because the exaltation may not come until we reach our eternal home in heaven. Yet there it will be an eternal exaltation by the one who knows us through and through.
Yet, to be humbled is to experience humiliation. St. Bernard said that the only way to become humble is through humiliation. Yet this is precisely what we fear and despise. Look at the ways of the world: people desperately try to fit in and avoid standing out in a negative way. There is nothing more frightening these days than what I call “social martyrdom.” By that I mean the willingness to be oneself and not just go along with the crowd. Social media is hyper-critical of everything observable: what we wear, the style of our hair, our preferences for trendy foods, beverages, and entertainment. We are led to believe there could be nothing worse than being “cancelled” because we don’t fit in.
All of this comes from a daily strategy that is itself incongruent with our identity as baptized children of God. If we do not know that our true identity is found in relationship to the Blessed Trinity, then our life strategy can easily become that of self-promotion. The ego needs to be stroked, to be recognized and exalted. Like little children who jump around and say “look at me, look at me, watch this,” we can become absorbed in trying to justify our existence rather than enjoy being ourselves. True freedom is found in Christ and slavery comes from chasing after earthly glory.
What does humility look like? How do we recognize it? It is found in those who do much of their work behind the scenes, without recognition. Humility is seen in the one who always stays late to clean things up and put things away after everyone else goes home. Humility is found in the one who makes no stir when someone else gets the credit for what they themselves did. Humility comes from being criticized rather than being thanked. Humility is accepting humiliation because God alone knows our goodness and his reward is more incredible than we can imagine.
So, when you pray, do you thank God that you’re not like the dregs of the world and have great confidence that you’ll just cruise right into heaven? Or do you think that the entrance pass into heaven is how well you can demonstrate to the Lord that you “deserve” to be admitted? Are you planning how you will justify your life before God or is your disposition before God one of trembling and fear, born of humility? Let us remember that the Lord knows us utterly, and that he loves us always, not just sometimes. It is his great desire to welcome us into the Kingdom. It is not something we deserve or can earn. The Lord wants us to humble ourselves by confessing our sins, so that he can exalt us to a greater level than we could ever manage to achieve on our own.
What, then, is your disposition before God: a self-righteous Pharisee or a humble tax collector? The glory we seek for ourselves will in the end be a fading glory. Rather, the exaltation that will be ours for all eternity will be indescribable and have no end. Earthly exaltation has a brief thrill compared to the exaltation that will be ours if we but humble ourselves and entrust ourselves to God’s mercy. Remember, the good thief on the cross next to Jesus simply said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said in reply, “This day you will be with me in paradise.”
