Never ending bad news! I don't know why I am so determined to get the news every night before I go to bed. Its a habit, I suppose. I just can't miss it, either on the telly or on the radio, I have to listen to the news headlines. But why? There is always bad news. If its not the economy, its a murder. If not a murder some other woe that seems to overwhelm us all. The weather is often the icing on the cake! No one seems to be at peace with each other, never mind with God.
The Gospel of the Pharisee and the tax-collector is one of my personal favorites. It is one of those special pericopes that gives me great hope. Sometimes I see myself as the Pharisee, other times as the tax collector. Which one would I rather be? If I was given a choice, if I could be one of the characters which would I choose? Say if I were the Pharisee; a good man, trying to do my best and seemingly succeeding well at it. I would be guilty of all the right things - fasting, praying, giving to the poor. Okay, maybe I am a bit arrogant, but so what?! I am arrogant about the proper things, right? Why would I want to be a tax-collector? After all these guys were not the cute little cartoon characters like Zaccheus in our school religion books- they were nasty, mean and most of all they were traitors. Who in their right minds would want to be one. But still, he was the one that went home at peace with God. And why? He realised that he didn't have it all together. He knew his need for forgiveness and mercy. He knew that he was not the master of the game.
When we forget that we need the Redeemer we become like the Pharisee. To forget that we are the ones that are in need of God and not the other way around, can only bring us emptiness and the opposite of fulfillment. I think one reason that we have found ourselves in the current economic and social turmoil is that we easily forget that we are bought and paid for. We arrogantly think that we are the only ones that matter and anything or anyone that reminds us of another reality is wrong. Peace of mind and heart is what we sacrifice if we get our real priorities wrong.
The tax collector went home at peace with God, the other did not, no matter how secure he felt in himself. The Gospel reminds us that we are the children and God is God.
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