Religion of Merit Vs Religion of Mercy!

 (Homily 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. C)

World Mission Sunday 2022

     Last Sunday in our reflection we considered prayer as the gym of the Christian soul and invariably today’s readings buttress the fact that in this spiritual gym there are two kinds of spiritual athletes: those that puff up and think that they can do everything with their muscle, and those that are simple and have a healthy spiritual self-esteem. In that bid, those who belong to the religion of merit and those who belong to the religion of mercy. Those who belong to the religion of merit are self-justified, they are proud, they have unhealthy high self-esteem and they feel they can obtain spiritual favors out of merit. Those of religion of mercy, instead are humble and simple, capable of entering into themselves (intusleggere) in order to make a healthy and balanced evaluation of themselves, for them another name of God and for God’s Love is Mercy, they trust in the mercy of God and not in their human merits. Those of the religion of merit are self-justified, while those of the religion of mercy are justified by God. The themes of justice and prayer recapitulate well the readings of this Sunday. Prayer is a place where pride is abandoned, hope is lifted and supplications are made. Indeed, “The nearer you go to God, the nearer God will come to you” (Jm. 4:8a). A humble and authentic prayer takes us closer to God. In the parable, both the Pharisee and the Publican prayed in the temple, but only the publican was justified by God. In the first reading, Sirach applies the divine justice to prayer and teaches that God, the just judge has no preference of persons, he listens to the prayer of the oppressed. Lastly, in the second reading, St. Paul in humility accepted his ordeal of faith, however, not trusting on his own strength but on divine grace: “From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day”. Today we celebrate Mission Sunday. As a matter of fact, the Church is missionary in nature, and we the members too are missionaries, though in different categories and degrees, some participate in the mission by going, some by giving while others by praying. And the readings (Zech.8:20-23; Ps.19:2-3.4-5; Rm.10:9-18; Mk.16:15-20) proper to the Mission Sunday revolve around the beauty and the necessity of the missionary exploit, indeed “how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news” (Rm.10:15) and again “Go into the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation” (Mk.16:15).

     It is against this backdrop that the first reading (Sir. 35, 12-14.16-18) basically tells us that the humble man’s prayer pierces the cloud and will not stop until they reach the throne of God. (vv. 16-18). The passage reminds us that God has no favorites and that he hears the voice of the oppressed (vv.12-13). God is presented here as a just judge, that cannot be compromised like human judges, for this, he listens favorably to the prayers of the oppressed, the poor, the orphan and widows. However, prayer accompanied with good interior dispositions like humility fast-forwards our prayers to God’s thrown. No doubt, “the heartfelt prayer of someone upright works very powerfully” (Jm.5:16). There is efficacy in the prayer of a humble person. Indeed, humility accompanied with perseverance is the basic condition for every prayer. The Lord does not delay in answering the prayers of the weak, the oppressed and the humble. For this the word of God was addressed to Jeremiah thus: “Call to me and I will answer you” (Jer. 33:3). It is against this backdrop, that the Psalmist assures us that “the lowly one called and the Lord heard him” (Ps.34:6). Let us humble ourselves, accept our unworthiness and nothingness before God, so that all our prayers today will pierce the cloud and reach God’s thrown.

     The message of the Gospel passage (Lk. 18: 9-14) centers on the right attitude towards prayer and the theme of justification not by personal merit, but by faith in Jesus Christ (cf. Rm.8:33-37). At the beginning of the gospel Luke tells us that Jesus narrated the parable for “those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else” (v.9), and this is the basic trait of those that belong to the religion of merit. Jesus narrated the story of two people that went up to the temple to pray: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee sees himself as a man “separated” from others, he kept all the laws. The Jewish law prescribed fasting once a year (cf. Lev. 16:29), but he fasted twice a week. What a self-flattery! The meaning of this parable is that of the entire Gospel of St. Luke: Jesus is the revelation of God’s mercy. And man is liberated from sin through the gratuitous initiative of God’s mercy. The more we stoop low and become convinced of our misery and moral inconsistency, the more God in his merciful love forgives and raises us up.

     On entering the temple, the Pharisee as we are told “took up his position” maybe he sat down. Probably he did not assume the religious posture or position of a pious Jew. Then, he started his prayer: “O God I thank you because I am not like other men, impure and unjust…”. The Pharisee seemed to offer his prayers to God, but in reality he is self-centered, he repeated the word “I” many times. An authentic Prayer opens one in a relationship with the Other and with the others, but the prayer of the Pharisee opened and closed him up only to himself. This is real spiritual schizophrenia in action, he was disconnected with the Other and the others, he remained closed in his own world, where only him exists. This indeed, is religion of Merit. He reminds God what he has been doing for God, and not remembering what God has done and is doing for him. The Pharisee saw himself as a just man, who is at peace with God: he is presumptuous and proud. In this passage, Jesus condemns religious self-sufficiency. Humility is not weakness of character, rather strength of the will, such that one neither succumbs before the threats of the powerful nor the flattery of the wicked.

     On the other hand, we figure out the tax collector, who instead out of humility and a healthy sense of guilt “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 is an attitude of those who belong to the religion of Mercy. Certainly, he remembered what God has done and is doing for him, he cannot but ask for Mercy. At the end, the situation reverses, for he went home forgiven, absolved, exalted, sanctified, but the Pharisee no! (v.14). Indeed, our sins distance us from God, little wonder he stood off at a distance to pray, a similar thing happened in Luke (5:8) at the episode of the encounter between Peter and Jesus. Even though, it is true that sin distances us from God, but humility and spiritual self-acceptance draw us closer to God. Little wonder, we are told that the tax collector went home justified. While the prayer of the Pharisee closed him up in his world, that of the tax collector opened him up to the Other and the others. Prayer indeed creates and nurtures friendship (with God and with others). The big difference between the prayer of the Pharisee and the tax collector is this, while the first composed his prayer based on what he does for God, the later inwardly prays for what God does and is capable of doing for him. And that is the major difference between the Religion of Merit and the Religion of Mercy. Really the tax collector went home justified not only because he was humble, but also because he opened up to the mysteries of God and to God Himself. He opened up to God’s mercy, which is “God’s weakness” and a manifestation of his omnipotence.

     In the Gospel the maxim of Jesus: “who exalts himself will be humbled, and who humbles himself will be exalted” is reported three good times in three different circumstances (two times in the Gospel of Luke and once in that of Mathew). From those three circumstances we have to deduce the three different aspects of humility and how they complement each other. ●In Luke (14:11) Jesus teaches humility in the sense of not aspiring for the positions of honor, not showing off, but rather to choose the last seat. ●Again, in Luke (18:14) Jesus teaches that humility also entails comporting oneself like the publican: recognizing oneself as a sinner and rely completely on God’s mercy; therefore, not doing like the Pharisee who presumed to just, he exalts himself and despises others, he failed to understand that salvation is a gratuitous gift of the Lord and not a reward as a result of one’s work. ●In Mathew (23:19) Jesus teaches that humility consists in avoiding the ostentation of oneself (self-display), the desire of being admired and revered, the ambition for honorific titles, instead great is the one who serves the brothers: “just as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28). Jesus is the divine model and archetype of humility, because in the mystery of his incarnation, passion and death, he offers us a maximum expression of true humility. For this, St. Paul invites us to imitate him, who humbled himself to the point of death (cf. Ph. 2:3-11).

     How many times have we Christians fallen into the same ditch of the Pharisee, the tendency of religious self-sufficiency? Many a times we indulge in the erroneous mentality of thinking that we secure our salvation by our mere actions alone or by our religious practices. This is tendency of justification by self and not by grace. An authentic Christian feels like “a publican”, a sinner, one saved by the divine mercy and continuously in need of his help. One who does not think that he is better than others, rather one who believes and trusts in the goodness and infinite mercy of God, one who tries to do the will of God, but however, knows that he can do nothing without the grace of God. The publican prayed and cried to God: “Kyrie eleison” and he was accepted by God, because he threw himself on God’s mercy. Come to think of it, let us reason together with St. Paul: “what made you so important? What have you got that was not given to you? And if it is given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own”, (1Cor. 4:7). Remember always: “everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be raised up” (Lk. 14:11; 18:14); indeed, “The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jm. 4:6).

     Drawing the issue further, the parable shows us the right attitude to adopt towards prayer; it gives us a useful indication on how to pray well. As emanating from the parable, a Christian prayer should not be like the one of the Pharisee, a sort of self-exultation with the consequent disregard for others; instead, it has to be like the one of the publican, it has to be a true and interior witness of humility. A Christian in the liturgical assembly has to rediscover the authentic esteem of others and a healthy self-concept. As scripture tells us, “All things are open and laid bare to the eyes of the One to whom one day we must give an account of ourselves” (Heb. 4:13). So we cannot deceive God or bemuse Him with our outward religiosity.

     In the second reading (2Tm.4:6-8.16-18) Paul expresses his lowliness before God, who he believes will reward him for his spiritual sojourn. At the moment Paul foresaw what awaits him that is why he says that he is being poured out as a libation (v.6), by this he was intending to say that his life will end up in martyrdom. He anticipated death for himself, because there is no hope of release like in his former imprisonment. St. Paul recounted his ordeal of being left alone, all deserted him, the roman Christians deserted him, however he affirmed: “But the Lord stood by me and gave me power, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed for all the gentiles to hear, and so I was saved from the lion’s mouth” (v.17). Despite his impending trial Paul was full of confidence: “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness” (v.8). Similarly, St. Paul lived the attitude of the tax collector, he was real before God.

     There is indeed something impressing in the liturgical tests of today, because while talking about the attitude of God towards the one who prays, emphasis is laid on God as a Judge. It does not exclude the fact that God is a Father, but a Father who does justice. He does justice to the one who prays with suitable attitude, like the publican, and he justifies him; and equally he does justice to the one who prays with improper attitude, like the Pharisee, who goes out from the temple without God’s forgiveness, for he was not in need of it. God is a judge who does not make preferences of persons, for this he listens with particular attention to the prayers of the oppressed. The prayer of the oppressed pierces the clouds till it reaches the abode of God. God judges the one who prays according to the divine parameter, and not according to the parameters of the one who prays. For this, the crown that Paul was expecting is not the fruit of his person merit, rather as a sign of God’s justice before him and all those who are his imitators in the service of the Gospel. I cannot but conclude my reflection this Sunday with the traditional prayer that goes thus: Jesus meek and humble of heart, make our hearts like unto yours. Truly, the goal and desire of our sojourn as Christians is to be more like Jesus and less of us.

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)