30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – Homily (2025)
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Sirach 35:12-14, 16-1
Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23 (7a)
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14
October 26, 2025
How do you approach Jesus in prayer?
How do you look at yourself?
Are you convinced of your own righteousness? Do you despise any other people?
Jesus tells a parable of two people, a Pharisee and a tax collector, who separately come to the Temple to pray. Both were sinners but only one of them acknowledged their sins.
Which one are you like?
Are you like the Pharisee who, “spoke this prayer to himself,” more boasting than praying?
Or are you like the tax collector who explicitly admitted he was a sinner and asked for God’s mercy?
The Pharisee did not ask for anything because he did not think he needed anything. He saw himself as better than “the rest of humanity.” He said he was not “greedy, dishonest, adulterous, or even like this tax collector.” It is good that he is not greedy, dishonest, or adulterous.
However, he sins in judgment when he says he is better than the tax collector. He sins in pride when he boasts of his fasting and tithing.
While the Pharisee is prideful, the tax collector is humble. The tax collector, “stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven” and pleaded for God’s mercy. He rightly admitted he was a sinner but he had hope in God’s mercy.
Are you prideful or humble?
Do you understand the difference?
Paul writes to Timothy, “I have competed well, I have finished the race; I have kept the faith…the crown of righteousness awaits me.”
It might seem to us that Paul is prideful and boasting but there is a difference between the Pharisee and Paul.
Paul goes on to say that he is not the only one who receive the “crown of righteousness.” Most importantly, as Paul speaks of the good things he has done, he acknowledges he does good because the Lord stood by him and gave him strength. He knows he does not save himself. He knows it is the Lord who will rescue him and bring him “safe to his heavenly kingdom.”
Paul does not boast of his status. Paul speaks of the good things he does to witness to the good things the Lord has blessed him to be able to do.
We can speak of good things we have done and still be humble. In fact, God can be pleased with the good we have done and wants us to witness to him in speaking of the good that has been done.
Getting back to the distinction between the Pharisee and Paul, the Pharisee thinks he has no sin and that he does not need God’s help. In his pride, he is not open to God’s help.
What sins do you know you have? Are you ready to hand them over to God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Are you ready, like the tax collector, to ask for God’s mercy to help you change?
God wants to help you. He listens to the “wail of the orphan” and He hears “the cry of the oppressed.” “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”
When I began I asked two questions. How do you approach Jesus in prayer and how do you look at yourself?
Do you see yourself as in need of help? If things are good for you, do you think you have done it all yourself or do you truly thank God (and other people) for his help?
How do you approach Jesus in prayer? Let’s say you come looking for help. What is your attitude? Do you come expecting God to fix things the way you want?
Or do you come in tears to surrender your life to God?
God wants to help you. He wants you to ask for help. Are you ready to listen to his Will?
The repentant tax collector offers no specific requests. He humbled himself to give himself completely over to God “and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”