Carmelite homily for Lectionary 150 – Sunday, October 27, 2019
A few years ago I was on a jury, a jury trial, that lasted ten days. I learned a lot. What was really interesting is the layout of the courtroom. In the courtroom at the highest level you had the judge – sitting very high. Next to the judge was the witness box on one side; the jurors on the other side, sitting up, and then the alternate jurors a step down. And then there was the main floor which was everybody else. So it was really based on judgment. The judge being the highest judge was the highest. The jurors being the next judges were the second highest. The plaintiffs and defendants in the witness box, the third highest. Then everybody else. A very vertical structure, based on judgment. This is exactly what Jesus is getting at in this example of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, oftentimes called the Pharisee and the Publican. There’s a lot of judgment going on here. That’s why the Pharisee is being condemned because he places himself so high – above the Publican, above all other men, all other people. Jesus calls us to be brothers and sisters. Jesus calls us to live a horizontal life. To gather with him around the table. To gather with him as his companions, as his disciples, as his apostles. To gather with him horizontally. Whenever we put ourselves vertically – hmmm, I think we’re distant from how he calls us to live, how he calls us to be, how he calls, how he calls us his brothers and sisters.