God does not measure out his love based on our goodness, or on our capacity to live by the rules. However we might find ourselves saying with the Pharisee: ‘Look what I have done for you, look at the sacrifices I made, or the money that I gave away, or the rules that I have kept.’ We’re looking for brownie points.
But I am never in a position of strength when I come face to face with God. I am always in a dependent position, in a poor position, in a vulnerable position.
How can I convince you of this? Of the reality of our poverty before God? Perhaps life itself is a good place to start.
We cannot grant ourselves the gift of life. We were reliant on our own parents for life. Without them we would not be here; but they are only parties to a mystery. Even with all of our biological knowledge, we cannot understand fully the transmission of human life. It remains a mystery.
If life itself is a mystery, and we are alive – then each of us, and all of us, are a mystery. We stand as living statements of the mystery of human life.
And if we think like this, then a chink opens up in our armour. What is the ground of my being? Who am I really? Where did I come from? What is this that I share in as a human being? The fact of my own life points to something greater than me, greater than us.
And that is a hugely important spiritual fact. There is something greater than me, than you, than us. And maybe that’s where we stop: do you believe in something greater than yourself? A higher power?
Our faith is not a way to try to understand the mystery of life. Rather, the mystery of life opens us up to the possibility of God. But, it was God who chose to reveal himself to people. God revealed himself as the mysterious relationship of Father, Son and Spirit. And more, God became one of us. He crossed the divine-human divide; God let go of his greatness, in order to reveal himself to us.
God’s act, God’s revelation of himself is always in the first place. Our faith is always in the second place, always a response to God who has chosen to share his own life with us. So, our faith is not man-made; and nor is it individual, private belief.
Listen to that first line from the gospel today: “Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else”.
A fundamental of our faith is that we must love one another. I cannot be religious on my own. I may be able to keep some rules, to say some prayers, even come to Sunday Mass. But, if my faith is a participation in the true faith of Jesus Christ, then I never stand over others, I never despise others. Rather, I seek to serve others. The true faith of Jesus Christ calls us beyond attempts at perfecting our own individual virtue. Instead, we come more and more to recognize that it is with and through other people that we come to that deeper encounter with the Lord.
Why does the humble sinner, the tax collector in the gospel, go away at rights with God? I think he goes away at rights because he knows that he does not live the perfect relationship of peace, of service and of love towards his neighbour. And so, he approaches God seeking God’s mercy for that – and God, by whose grace it is possible for us to live in peace; God grants the humble sinner righteousness. It is God who brings him into right relationship with himself and with others.
The Pharisee, on the other hand, displaying his supposed virtue by compare and contrast to other people, is not open to that grace of God that would put him at rights. Instead his heart is full of his virtue, his generosity, his moral uprightness.
We can learn from both of them. Our starting point earlier was about the mystery of where we came from. We realised that God is greater than us. But also, we realised that God wishes to be in relationship with us. Now, however, we realise that it is only by the action of God, by God’s grace, that we can possibly fulfil that relationship of faith with himself and with other people that he calls us into.
We need God’s grace to be at rights. We must acknowledge our brokenness before the Lord: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” And through our brokenness, through our sinfulness, God’s grace enters erupts in our hearts. And once that happens, once we are aware of what God has actually done for us in Christ Jesus, then we cannot but respond.
Indeed our heart, bursting with faith, hope and love, has already bounded ahead of us with joy in the Lord. We become ready to give generously, even foolishly, to charity, to the Church, to society, to other people – we begin to desire to give generously of our time, our talent and our treasure. Not so that we can show off our good deeds to God or people. No. But to really give thanks to God for all. For life and creation; for faith and the Church; for redemption and salvation in Christ Jesus; for family and love in our lives. From this perspective we can learn from the Pharisee. The good life is important. We must live virtuously, but only as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord for all that he has done, in the hope of the salvation, mercy and forgiveness that he wishes to give us.
When we approach God, we must do so as the poor man with a begging bowl.
No comments:
Post a Comment