Saturday of the Third Week of Lent ‘b’

Lk 18:9-14

Here is the paradox from today’s gospel reading: the one who tried to justify himself in front of God, wasn’t justified; yet the one who didn’t justify himself went home justified. So, here is the story from the gospel. There were two people who came to the temple to pray, one was a religious Pharisee, and another was a tax collector - a sinner. The Pharisee went to the front of the temple and proudly begun praising himself how good he was, he even compared himself to other sinners and thanking God for being better than everybody else. The sinner on the other hand, took the place in the back of the temple and humbly admitted his sins and asked God for mercy and forgiveness. That’s why he was justified and forgiven. God doesn’t want too many words from us, He doesn’t want to hear our excuses, He doesn’t want us compering ourselves with others. God wants our humility, He wants us to beg Him for mercy and forgiveness, nothing else. He knows why and how and when we sinned; no explanation needed. We just need to come and like that tax collector repeat: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.”