Luke 18.9-14 – Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
“He also spoke this parable for some who presumed themselves to be righteous and despised others.” Jesus does not tell this parable in a generic way, but addresses it to very specific people: to those who consider themselves righteous and, precisely for this reason, they look at others with contempt.
It is a very subtle temptation, especially for those who live a religious path. In fact, it does not necessarily arise from bad behavior, but can arise precisely from what, apparently, is good. When, for example, we convince ourselves that we are better than others because we pray more, because we say the rosary, because we go to Mass on Sunday, or because our life is not marked by particularly serious sins.
The risk is to get on a pedestal. And when you get on a pedestal, you inevitably start looking down on others. At that point religion, instead of making us more humble and truer, becomes an instrument of comparison and superiority. For a Christian, the fundamental question is never “how good am I”, but “how great is God”. When the center becomes our skill, our loyalty, our coherence, we risk losing the essential. Spiritual life is not a competition for perfection, but a relationship with God. The Pharisee speaks only of himself. The publican speaks only to God.
This is the decisive difference. One measures himself against others, the other relies on mercy. And it is precisely this humility that Jesus exalts. Not a sterile humiliation, but the freedom to recognize that everything we are and everything we have comes from the grace of God. Only those who stop comparing themselves with others can truly encounter God in truth. And only those who recognize themselves as small can leave space to the greatness of mercy.
