Sunday Readings for October 25-26, Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Lyn Zahorik | For On Mission
When Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, our attention is often drawn to the humility of the tax collector. But I’ve always felt that St. Luke gave the Pharisee a bad rap. By tradition, Luke was a physician, but bedside manner wasn’t exactly his specialty. If Luke had been writing Yelp reviews rather than a Gospel recounting, the Pharisee would have gotten one star and a note that said, “Would not recommend — too full of himself.”
Now, to be fair, the Pharisee started out on the right track. His offering of a prayer of gratitude was spot on. Gratitude is always a good place to begin. The problem wasn’t that he was thankful; it was why he was thankful. His prayer wasn’t about God’s generosity; it was an empty, self-congratulatory statement. He wasn’t saying, “Lord, you’ve been so good to me.” He was saying, “Lord, aren’t you lucky to have me?”
The Pharisee’s mistake was not his devotion, but his intent. He prayed to reinforce his own image, not to encounter God. This happens often. Prayer can look pious, sound eloquent, and even be filled with Scripture, yet still be hollow if its purpose is to elevate the self.
The Pharisee’s posture also shows us how easily prayer can become performance. Here we see an exercise in measuring ourselves against others rather than opening ourselves to God. Prayer is not a stage; it is a meeting place. God is not grading our vocabulary or applauding our posture; he is searching our hearts. When our intent is to impress, we leave the experience unchanged.
But when our intent is to be honest, even clumsily honest, we open the door for God’s mercy to reshape us. Prayer is less about the polish of our words than about the posture of our souls. The Pharisee’s downfall is not that he prayed, but that he prayed with the wrong intent. His problem is not the truth of his words, but the spirit behind them. His prayer was rooted in pride of self, not in relationship with God.
There are days when we pray the prayer of a Pharisee, and other days when we pray like the tax collector. Some of us have been spared certain hardships. Some of us have been given opportunities that others haven’t. Remember that prayer can so easily become a checklist, a habit of words without depth, or even a subtle way of comparing ourselves to others. But the Gospel reminds us that prayer is meant to be an encounter — a space where we bring our whole selves before God, not to impress, but to surrender; not to prove our worth, but to receive grace.
So, when we pray, let’s remember: The power of prayer is not in how it sounds, but in where it comes from. The Pharisee left the temple with his pride intact, but spiritually unchanged. The tax collector left with nothing to boast of — except the mercy of God. And in the end, that mercy is everything.
The readings for Sunday, October 26, can be found at Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB.