A HOMILY FOR THE SUNDAY OF THE PUBLICAN AND THE PHARISEE
About the Perniciousness of Vainglory and Pride, and the Excellence of Humility and Repentance
Brothers and sisters!
This Sunday is called in Greek "the Sunday of Proclamation," because it heralds the quickly approaching time of repentance: Great Lent. On the path to salvation, repentance, conversion, and humility are the first steps; therefore, it is fitting that the coming of the preeminent season of repentance be announced by the story of the Publican and the Pharisee: that brief and simple, but most moving and instructive of parables. In it, the Lord Jesus Christ rebukes those who think highly of themselves and trust in their own righteousness; and He teaches us how we should pray, lest we arouse God’s wrath by the very means through which we think to profit our souls. Nothing is worse than arrogance and pride; nothing worse than self-exaltation and vanity. Pride cast down from heaven the first among angels; pride caused the one who was called "Daystar" to be called "devil"; pride, with love of pleasure, drove Adam out of Paradise and deprived him of his original glory. Pride is the root cause of almost every evil and cuts off all spiritual progress. Pride not only leads people to vice, but becomes entangled with the virtues and chokes them. It spurs men to toil and the endurance of pain in devout labors, then deprives them of their reward. If a proud man fasts, prays, gives alms, keeps himself chaste, or struggles against the passions generally, he achieves nothing but to make himself a laughingstock to the demons. The Lives of the saints are full of accounts of ascetics who have left the world, embraced the angelic life, received monastic tonsure, taken up their dwelling in the wilderness, spurned wealth and every pleasure, and curbed evil concupiscence; yet, on account of vainglory or pride, have gained nothing. Rather, they have fallen even further from God than those who are thralls to worldly vanities and gross vices.
If I look into my heart, I see how vainglory entwines itself around every virtuous undertaking. If I fast, I am vainglorious; and if I eat to avoid seeming vainglorious, again I am vainglorious. If I dress sharply, I am vainglorious; and if I wear plain or worn-out clothes to avoid vainglory, I am vainglorious. If I speak, there is vainglory; and if I avoid speaking, again there is vainglory. No matter how you throw this many-barbed passion, one point always catches. But as harmful, as perditious as pride and vainglory are, so humility and self-reproach are beneficial and soul-saving. Whatever is squandered by pride and vainglory is easily recovered by humility. Whereas pride casts man into the abyss, humility lifts him up after he falls. As it is written: God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.[1] And so it is that the Gospel relates:
Two men went up into the Temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stands for those who justify themselves and feel contempt for sinners; the publican for those who, although they sin, pray and confess with contrite hearts. Righteousness and virtue are wonderful and glorious, and they bring a man close to God; yet, when pride is entangled with them, virtue itself casts man into the infernal pit. But humility overcomes every sin and justifies us through worthy repentance and confession.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. The root of pride is insolence. He who disparages others and looks down on them as inferior, because one is poor, another uneducated, another coarse, another lazy, eventually begins to think of them all as deeply unrighteous, as especially heinous sinners, especially if he himself is struggling for virtue. He begins to imagine that he alone is wise, intelligent, and righteous: that he is better than everyone else. Contempt or insolence as the root, and pride as the evil fruit will alike be judged in the same way, which is why Isaiah proclaims, The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and he shall be brought low. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.[2] The Pharisee's first words, God, I thank Thee, seemed to indicate that he was a wise, discerning person, but he quickly revealed his contempt for others. He did not continue, "I thank Thee that Thou didst create me, O Lord, and hast kept me from committing all the sins to which I, in my wretchedness, am so easily inclined." Rather, he immediately began disparaging others as extortioners, unjust, adulterers, even as this publican. From insolence and contempt he advanced to pride, enumerating his virtues, which he imagined he had attained by his own power. I fast twice in the week, he said; I give tithes of all I possess. Evidently, he was ignorant not only of Christ's saying, Without Me ye can do nothing,[3] but of David's, too: Except the Lord build the house, in vain do they labour that build it.[4] Even though we have been honored with free will, without help from on high we cannot accomplish a single truly good deed. This is why the Apostle says, It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy;[5] and, Not I, but the grace of God which was with me;[6] and, It is God Which worketh in you both to will and to do.[7] Ours is to desire success in achieving virtue and to exert ourselves in attaining it, making a very best effort; but it is God Who strengthens our good yearnings and strivings, and brings them to fruition. The essence of pride is to claim as our own an ability or accomplishment that is not intrinsically ours, but is received or brought to pass by grace. Saint Paul makes this clear when he reproaches the proud, saying, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?[8]
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The publican considered that he had done no good deeds and possessed no virtues; therefore, he did not enumerate either, as had the Pharisee. Rather, he beat his breast, reproached himself, and with profound contrition moaned, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Because of this, he found mercy with the Master. Accepting the Pharisee's reproach, the lowly publican ascended to a blessed state; while the Pharisee wasted all his self-mortification and alms.
Before the throne of God, we shall have to answer before all else for two things: our repentance for our own sins, and our forgiveness of the sins of others. He who clearly sees his own sins mercifully forgives other people or simply overlooks their shortcomings and offences. However many virtues he may have, he judges himself and considers himself worthy of punishment. Even if I am the most righteous of men, yet if I judge others harshly, I make myself liable to God’s judgment and deserving of the punishment due those whom I judge. The glutton breaks the commandments, but so does he who judges the glutton; the fornicator is far from God, but so is he who passes sentence on the fornicator. So, let us be concerned about our own failings. If we see others sinning, we should not judge them, but bring to mind our offences. Sometimes sinners repent as soon as they have fallen; but I remain cold, hard, and self-righteous all the days of my life. Lot lived in Sodom, but although himself righteous, he judged no one and reproached no one. For this reason he escaped the all-consuming wrath of God that fell upon that city. His example should teach us to be on guard especially if we have made some progress at being kind, meek, and merciful; if we are making a real effort to live for God; because we can easily lose the entire fruit of our labor through pride or vainglory. Our attitude should express the Lord’s teaching: When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.[9]
Brothers and sisters! In humility, there is immense strength and support; in pride, terrible loss and ruin. Since repentance, confession, contrition, tears of compunction, and heartfelt sighs cleanse the soul of every stain, confess your sins to God as often as possible during the approaching season of repentance, and lay open to Him your failings. Instead of searching out the failings of others, let us search out our own. If we expose our conscience to the Lord; bare to Him the wounds of our soul; refrain from judging others; endure it patiently and meekly when our neighbors vex us; and resist feelings of resentment and dejection when we are slandered, provoked, or offended, the Lover of mankind will embrace us with boundless compassion. He will pour the oil of His mercy upon our wounds and heal our spiritual infirmities. If we confess our sins to the Master, He will not scold or spurn us, but accept us, gladly and warmly. In any case, we gain nothing by failing to beg His forgiveness, because He already knows all the secrets of our heart. So, let us put aside the burden of our sins as often as possible by sincere repentance during Holy Lent, so that cleansed and justified, we may inherit the good things to come, which may we all receive together from Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him be glory, honor, and worship, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
[1] Jas. 4:6; I Pet. 5:5; Prov. 3:34
[2] Is. 2:12, 17
[3] John 15:5
[4] Ps. 126:1
[5] Rom. 9:16
[6] I Cor. 15:10
[7] Phil. 2:13
[8] I Cor. 4:7
[9] Luke 17:10
