Episode 153: 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C
In today’s episode, we focus solely on the Gospel reading, taken from Luke 18:9-14, which is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The apologetical topic that comes to the fore is justification, and specifically the nature of justification.
Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Dr. Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In today’s episode, we’re going to focus solely on the Gospel reading, taken from Luke 18:9-14, which is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The apologetical topic that comes to the fore is justification, and specifically the nature of justification.
Here’s the Gospel reading in its entirety:
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“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.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Protestants sometimes appeal to this passage as support of the forensic view of justification, a view that denies our justification being rooted in any holiness within us and sees it rooted solelyin God’s declaration that we are just.
Protestant author Michael Horton makes this argument in his contribution essay “Traditional Reformed View” in the book Justification: Five Views. He argues that justification cannot be rooted in anything within us because Jesus excludes the Pharisee from justification on account of his “self-righteousness.” In other words, the Pharisee is painted as the guy who is not justified on account of him thinking he’s justified by his own righteousness, in comparison to the tax collector who is justified on account of his repentance and recognition that there is nothing within him that would justify him. Righteousness (justification), so Horton concludes, cannot be rooted in anything within us.
The first thing we can say in response is that Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisee’s “self-righteousness” doesn’t necessarily mean that justification is not rooted in interior holiness. Notice Horton assumes that by “self-righteousness” Jesus means the interior holiness of the individual. But this is not the only possible meaning.
By “self-righteousness” Jesus could mean a righteousness that someone seeks to bring about within themselves on their own apart from God and his grace, very much like Pelagius taught in the fourth and fifth centuries. On this view, justification still could be conceptualized as being rooted in an interior righteousness that God freely brings about by his grace without falling subject to Jesus’ condemnation of “self-righteousness” in this passage. Thus, Jesus’ condemnation of the Pharisee’s “self-righteousness” cannot of itself serve as a defeater of the view that justification is rooted in interior holiness.
Now, to further our response, I don’t think it’s simply possible that by “self-righteousness” Jesus means a righteousness that someone seeks to bring about within themselves on their own apart from God’s grace, but it’s factually so. The context bears this out.
Consider, for example, how Luke tees up the parable: “[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trust in themselves that they were righteous and despised others” (v.1). Notice, the parable is directed at those “who trust in themselves that they were righteous.” This is the type of “self-righteousness” that Jesus has in mind when he speaks of the “righteousness” of the Pharisee in the parable. It is a righteousness of his own making, not a righteousness that comes from God.
Now, as I already noted, there is an essential difference between an interior “righteousness” that God brings about by grace and an interior “righteousness” that someone tries to bring about within themselves on their own apart from grace. Since the “self-righteousness” of the Pharisee in the parable refers to a righteousness that he seeks to bring about within himself by himself, apart from God, it follows that this passage in fact does not serve as a defeater of the belief that justification is rooted in the interior holiness of the soul.
A second response, so I argue, is that the parable gives evidence that justification is rooted in interior holiness. The first clue is that these individuals, so Luke tells us, “despised others.” In other words, they didn’t love neighbor, which in turn means they didn’t have divine charity within their heart. And it’s these individuals that serve as an example of what it means to not be justified. Jesus states in verse 4, “I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other.” By “the other” Jesus means the Pharisee, who is representative of these individuals who lacked divine charity within their heart.
Since Jesus juxtaposes the state opposite of justification as an interior state, whereby the individual lacks divine charity in the soul, it follows that Jesus envisions the state of justification to be an interior state whereby the individual has divine charity within the soul. Jesus, therefore, views justification as rooted in interior holiness.
The second clue that serves as evidence for this view of justification is the “humility” of the tax collector, on account of which he is said to be justified. Jesus says in verses 13-14, “[T]he tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Notice Jesus identifies the tax collector’s repentance as an act of humility, which can only proceed from a disposition of humility. Such a disposition of humility is an interior state of the soul. Jesus identifies this interior state of the tax collector’s soul as the root of him being justified. Thus, justification is rooted in an interior state of the soul. It is not merely a forensic declaration by God.
I think this interpretation is further confirmed by what Jesus taught two chapters earlier, a teaching that also involved justification and the Pharisees. Jesus says,
“14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him. 15 But he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
The implication here is that insofar as the Pharisees try to justify themselves before men, they are not justified before God. But notice why they are not justified before God: they’re hearts are not in the right place. How were their hearts not in the right place? They were “lovers of money.” In other words, their “hearts”—the interior state of their soul—wasn’t properly ordered to God.
Now, if a state of non-justification is rooted in an interior state of soul—a state of disorder or sin, and Jesus is juxtaposing such a state with a state of justification in the sight of God, then it follows that the state of justification in the sight of God is an interior state of soul—a state of order or holiness. Thus, according to Jesus, justification is rooted in interior holiness.
And given that this serves as a wider context of our Gospel reading, we can reasonably conclude that Jesus is teaching a view of justification that’s rooted in interior holiness.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that’s all I have for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. Even though we only looked at the Gospel reading for this upcoming 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C, it definitely hits on an important apologetical topic that is at the forefront of Catholic-Protestant discussions—namely, the nature of justification.
Justification is not merely a forensic declaration by God but rather is rooted in interior righteousness that God brings about within us by grace.
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I hope you have a blessed 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C. Until next time, God Bless.