The Pharisee and How Not to Pray

The Pharisee and the Publican by James Tissot

I was thinking about the gospel lesson from Luke with the Pharisee and the tax collector, together, and yet set apart in prayer in the Temple. Not only physically, but in the words they choose:

The Phar'isee, standing by himself, was praying thus, "God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'--Luke 18: 11-13

Of course, Jesus goes on to say that it is the tax collector who will reap the rewards of being humble and relying on God for mercy as opposed to the self-satisfied Pharisee. I thought about this "self-satisfied" prayer. It is the ultimate 'there before the grace of God go I' kind of prayer. "Oh God, thank you for not making me one of them!" But the truth is that the Pharisee is just like the very people he sees as "other" to him. The pride he expresses in his prayer, "I am not like other people", is the seed for what I believe is meant by Jesus' rebuke of the "adulterous and sinful generation." The adultery the Pharisee is guilty of committing is the type where he has placed himself on a pedestal and has crafted a prayer in homage to how wonderful he is. "I give a tenth of all my income" (words that conveniently show up at this stewardship time in the church). "Look at me: I fast twice a week" which means I'm following the letter of the law. I'm so good. I'm so wonderful. And the rest of these "others" are not.

I think there is a caution here about the way we pray. Are we able to look at ourselves and present our true selves to God in prayer, or do we insist on casting our selves in light of what other people are doing or saying? Are we minding how we live our lives as we try to stay in step with God, or are we trying to say, "Well, at least I'm not one of those people."?

Jesus gives us an outline of how to pray through the Lord's Prayer. The basics: praise God first and foremost, and then seek the grace, mercy and guidance of God so we may live according to God's will. Prayer is about God; not about yourself. Seems that would be the model to follow. How different a prayer the Pharisee might have offered had he stuck to that formula!