The Gospel we hear today is a familiar one. We hear the Pharisee who, at the time would have been considered the person we should pattern our prayer after. Pharisees were a Judaic sect that were rule followers, they followed the law of Moses.

 

We also hear of the tax collector, one who would not have been highly regarded at the time, just like today no one liked the tax man. During Jesus’ time the tax collectors income was generated by how much he could collect above what the Romans were requiring for taxes.

 

These two men were on opposite ends of the spectrum and you could tell by the way their prayer went. The Pharisee was telling God how well he had done in all that was required to be a good Jewish man, unlike that lowly tax collector. The tax collector was humble just asking for mercy from God for the sins he had committed.

 

During the Jubilee Year of Mercy that will be ending in a little less than a month we have been asked to show mercy to all people. The Pharisee in the parable does not accomplish this task. He instead sounds so sure of himself that he knows that he needs to show no mercy or love to the tax collector.

 

The tax collector shows an understanding beyond what he should have. His simple request for mercy from God will be heard. This correlates with the reading from Sirach that says the prayers of the lowly and outcast will be heard by God.

 

God’s mercy is what saves us in the long term. While we may not be perfect, if we let God in and follow his precepts we will ultimately be saved. We however sometimes act like the Pharisee in the parable. We let our pride interfere with what God is trying to do through us. We listen to our politicians and instead of trying to have an open conversation we decide because the other person disagrees with us on a topic they are not worth listening to.

 

When we do this we are not showing the mercy we are called to show, and we are definitely not showing the selfless love that Jesus showed us. We begin to act like siblings who believe that their parents have more love for the other than they do for them.

 

This false narrative of more love for one sibling over the other is something that can happen because the parents treat some children differently than they do others. Different treatment does not mean different levels of love. The one sibling may have earned the treatment by a myriad of things.

 

Just as parents love each child the same, God loves all of humanity the same. While the ultimate treatment of each will be determined by their actions, we are called to have this same love for all that the Lord does. We all fall short of this in one way or another. It certainly does not mean we need to condone or agree with the position or actions of those around us, but we do need to be willing to show them mercy in our treatment of them.

 

Paul reminds us when we walk with God as our guide and Jesus as our savior we will ultimately be saved and salvation will come in the form of eternal life, not death. This saving grace is available to all of humanity even the most heinous criminals. Harder still to imagine it is available to the politicians and people screaming to be heard.

 

As we come ever closer to election day we need to continually remind ourselves that even though we may not agree with the political position on someone it does not give us the right to treat them as less than us. The Pharisee did this to the tax collector and Jesus reminded the disciples that the Pharisee had work to do in order to gain salvation. He needed to remember that while following the law was indeed important, showing mercy and love were more so. We need not be so full of ourselves that we show disdain for others.

 

We need to be humble and act as the lowly in Sirach so as to remind ourselves, even though we may be good people and follow the rules, we have not found God’s favor any more than our neighbor. God is patient and will wait for us to call on him to help in our lives. Just as parents will always be there for their children, sometimes we need to remember to ask for forgiveness and mercy to receive what we need.

 

With all of the natural disasters and violence going on in the world today it would be easy to become immune to the outcome of these events. We need to be ever vigilant and ready to act in a way that is merciful. We may not know what that is if we have not had others show us this mercy at some time on our lives.

 

It goes back to how we treat and believe in others. While when I was younger I had the misconception that my parents loved my siblings more than me, I came to realize that their love was no different. Their actions toward me may have been different due to the circumstances, but this did not mean they loved me less, it meant they wanted me to receive salvation just as they did my siblings. When I became humble enough to look at it from this perspective instead of the self-congratulatory way I did the realization was simple to come by.

 

Be humble in all we do and show mercy to those around us, especially those we find distasteful. We can all learn a lot and remind ourselves to show mercy by repeating the tax collectors prayer. “O God, be merciful to me a sinner”