The Prayer That God Hears
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Sunday, Homily on Luke 18:10–14 —
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector.’”
— Luke 18:10–11
- Two Men, Two Postures
Jesus tells us about two people who go up to the temple to pray.
One stands tall — confident, devout, morally upright.
The other stands far off — broken, ashamed, painfully aware of his failures.
On the surface, it’s an ordinary scene of prayer. Yet what Jesus reveals is extraordinary:
God sees not only what we pray, but how we stand before Him.
The Pharisee stands before himself, not before God. His prayer begins with “O God,” but it never reaches heaven. It is self-addressed, self-congratulatory, self-satisfied. He measures his worth by comparison: “I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.”
The tax collector, meanwhile, doesn’t even lift his eyes. His prayer is short, almost gasped: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He doesn’t justify himself. He doesn’t compare. He simply opens his wounded heart to grace.
- The Trap of Comparison
The Pharisee’s problem isn’t that he’s virtuous. It’s that he’s forgotten where virtue comes from.
He’s forgotten that righteousness is not achieved, but received.
He thanks God not for mercy, but for superiority.
This is the spiritual trap that still tempts all of us — the subtle comfort of thinking “at least I’m not like them.”
It feels safe. It gives us a sense of control. But it closes the door to God’s transforming love.
Every time we compare, we stop growing.
Every time we define ourselves by others’ failures, we step out of the flow of grace.
Because grace can only enter a heart that knows its need.
- The Prayer That Reaches Heaven
Jesus ends the parable with a shocking reversal:
“I tell you, the tax collector went home justified, not the Pharisee.”
The sinner is justified — made right with God — not because of his sin, but because of his honesty.
He doesn’t pretend. He doesn’t hide. He tells the truth about himself before the One who already knows it all.
The Pharisee, meanwhile, leaves the temple as he entered — unchanged, untouched, unhealed.
God cannot fill what is already full of itself.
- A Mirror for Our Hearts
This parable is not a story about two men long ago; it’s a mirror for us today.
There is a Pharisee and a tax collector within each of us.
One wants to stand tall and be seen as good; the other kneels, broken, longing to be forgiven.
The spiritual life is not about silencing the sinner within us — it’s about letting that part be seen by God.
The moment we stop performing and start confessing, mercy begins to flow.
Humility is not thinking less of ourselves; it is thinking of ourselves truthfully, in the light of God’s love.
- The Hidden Grace of Humility
This parable invites us to practice a humility that is not humiliation, but liberation.
Humility frees us from the exhausting need to appear righteous.
It allows us to rest in the truth that we are loved, not for our perfection, but for our openness.
In every Mass, we echo the tax collector’s prayer before receiving the Eucharist:
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
That is not a prayer of shame — it’s a prayer of confidence in mercy.
The same God who heard the tax collector’s cry hears ours each time we whisper those words.
- The Way Home
In the end, both men “went up to the temple,” but only one “went home justified.”
The difference wasn’t in their sin but in their honesty.
The one who opened his heart, no matter how unworthy, went home carrying the peace of forgiveness.
So, this week, perhaps our prayer can be simple:
“God, be merciful to me.
I don’t want to perform.
I just want to be real before You.”
Because when we pray like that — honestly, humbly, and from the heart — heaven bends low to listen.
🕊 Closing Thought
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
In the silence of humility, God lifts us higher than pride ever could.