Recently I delivered a sermon about humility and the tax collector. As we approach Advent, it occurs to me the season of Advent is about being humble before the Lord. Being humble allows us to remove self and be dependent upon the love, hope and the will of God. The first step towards humbling ourselves before the Lord is to ask for forgiveness and acknowledge our dependence upon God. This is what the tax collector recognized and seeked.

The tax collector was brutally honest. Yes, he had taken advantage of people. Yes, he took money from the poor. But, he could easily rationalize his actions since he was just doing his job. The tax collector in the story was apparently a man of faith since he went to the temple to pray. Unlike the Pharisee, he didn't boast about how good he was, he asked for forgiveness. "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner." The Pharisee tried to raise his self esteem by bragging of his good works. The tax collector said, "This is me, sinful and in need of mercy." He was therefore exalted because of his humility. In other words, transformation begins when we are totally honest about who we are and know that we must turn to God for forgiveness. Part of recognizing who we are, further opens our eyes to being children of God.

To confess our sins and admit our weaknesses is not enough. It is only the beginning. Transformation happens when there is a change in our behavior. We don't know for sure that the tax collector changed his ways. We only know that he "saw" and humbled himself before God. The Pharisee will never change because he has a distorted perception of himself. The tax collector can change since he was able to see the truth.

Which one was closer to God? The Pharisee prayed, only his prayer was all about himself. "Thank God I am not like those people," he prayed. Those people were "thieves, rascals, adulterers and tax collectors." We human beings have a tendency to justify our behavior by comparing ourselves to the less desirable behavior of others. As long as someone is more unethical than we, we rationalize our own mistakes away. The Pharisee was comparing his life to the more sinister lives of people around him while ignoring his own faults. Thus, he was moving further away from God.

On the other hand, the tax collector prayed from a distance. He was ashamed of his behavior. He was also contrite and knew he needed to be forgiven. Jesus said, "I tell you, this man returned to his home justified." Thus the tax collector was closer to God than the Pharisee because of his humility.

Jesus ended this story with these words; "all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." The word, humility is related to our word humus, meaning earth. I believe that Jesus is saying that those who are "grounded in Jesus" will inherit the kingdom of heaven as opposed to those who attempt to be bigger than life.

During the season of Advent, may we ground ourselves in preparing our hearts and souls for the coming of the Christ child into our lives.