Today's Gospel in Art - Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Pharisee and the Publican praying in the Temple, by Gustave Dore © Christian Art

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 13th March 2021 - Luke 18:9-14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: 'Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, "I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get." The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.'

Reflection on the Engraving

Today Jesus is sharing a parable with us about the tax collector and the Pharisee. The following story illustrates somehow what it is all about. A family home catches fire. Panic sets in and the parents and several children are rushing outside the house to escape the flames. The youngest child becomes separated from his mum and dad and in a panic runs back upstairs. The father standing outside the house shouts: "Jump son! Come on John, I will catch you!" The little boy shouts, "But I can't see you, Daddy!" The father responds, "I know, I know… but I can see you!…" The Pharisee, so obsessed with his own outward display of righteousness, could not bring himself to jump. Jesus tells us the Pharisee returned home not justified. The tax collector on the other hand, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven, trusted in the goodness of God and did take a leap and jumped into the arms of the Father. The tax collector returned home justified.

Our late 19th-century engraving by Gustave Doré illustrates the difference in attitudes of the tax collector and the Pharisee. It is only the tax collector who has light emanating from Jesus and the doorway shining on him. Jesus is centre stage in the background, pointing towards the tax collector, saying 'This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God'.

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/743
Christian Art - www.christian.art/index.php