By the Grace of God I am What I am

Our parable in this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 18:9-14) is a very familiar story. St Luke tells us “Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else (Luke 18:1).

Being ‘convinced’ means trusting in our own righteousness and this is not the path of salvation. It often leads our heart to view others with contempt, and this is extremely damaging both to others and to our soul.

Jesus’ parable introduces a contrast between a certain Pharisee and a tax collector. One of the reasons we do “not to judge others” is that we do not know their hearts. Yet this Pharisee reveals his heart to us. He prays, “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity” He lists their sins and then looks down with contempt on the tax collector.

By way of contrast, 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' (Luke 18:13). Jesus tells us the tax collector went home justified and not the Pharisee. He notes, “for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:13).

Jesus’ parable highlights the fundamental importance of the virtue of humility for our relationship with God and ultimately for our very salvation. In order to cooperate with God’s grace we must exercise “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 6:17, 16:25–26, Acts 6:7). In humility, we must each submit our hearts to God and follow him. This takes humility.

We need to recognize that everything we have received is a gift from God. As St. Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me” (RSVCE 1 Corinthians 15:10).

We are each saved, not by bargaining with God through our own good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), but by the grace and mercy of God. Not thinking to ourselves be good, or else, but be good for goodness sake.

If you are like me, I think you would assume that you are not like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable. After all, I do not come to church and publically boast about my righteousness in my prayers and treat others with open contempt.

Yet, could we still be subtly trusting in our own righteousness? We should choose to live a good life in gratitude and out of love for God. We each receive forgiveness, however, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and not because of our good works. Our good works are the fruit of our relationship with God.

Receiving his forgiveness, however, implies I have cooperated with the graces of my Baptism by submitting my heart, indeed my entire life to God, and that I am actively striving to live in an ongoing relationship with him. This is what it means to have the fruit of God’s grace in our life.

Lord may we humble ourselves this day, and recognize our need for you in all things, and in all we accomplish.

For a more detailed treatment of this passage see:  Grace and Humility