The Pharisee isn’t a cartoon villain. He’s exhausted. He’s been showing up faithfully for YEARS while others flake. He fasts twice a week—do YOU? He tithes on everything—do YOU? His resentment is understandable. His comparison is human. But his very goodness has become a prison. His discipline has turned into armour against compassion.
QUICK REFERENCE
- Date: October 26, 2025
- Liturgical Season: 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
- Readings:
- First: Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18
- Psalm: 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
- Second: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
- Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
- Theme: Meeting God the Judge in the place you expect everyone to desert you
WHERE ARE WE?
In the Biblical Narrative:
Luke 18 sits in the long journey to Jerusalem that began in 9:51. Jesus “set his face” toward the city where he’ll die. By chapter 19, he’ll enter Jerusalem on a donkey. By chapter 23, he’ll be on a cross. Every parable in this section has end-times weight.
The previous story (the persistent widow, 18:1-8) ends with a question about the Second Coming: “When the Son of Man returns, will he find faith?” Then immediately, this parable about two people standing before God. This IS a judgment scene. The Temple. Divine presence. Being weighed.
In Salvation History:
Sirach stands at a hinge—Second Temple Judaism under cultural assault, wrestling with what authentic worship looks like. His wisdom bridges Temple sacrifice and interior transformation.
Paul stands at another hinge—the first generation facing martyrdom. He embodies the Pharisee-becoming-tax-collector transformation. His letters become scripture. His blood becomes testimony.
In the Liturgical Year:
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time—nearing the end. Next week: All Saints (known and unknown saints in heaven). Then All Souls (those we’ve loved and lost). A couple of ordinary Sundays, and then Christ the King (eschatological dimension and then Advent begins. We’re approaching a threshold. The readings lean toward completion, reckoning, what matters when time runs out.
And this matters: We’re about to celebrate All Saints and All Souls—which means we’re about to name the dead whose prayers still hold us. Whose suffering created space for our transformation. Whose blood cries out and makes our repentance possible.
FOR LITURGY PLANNING
Symbols & Themes:
- Distance vs. proximity: Who stands far off? Who claims center stage? Where do WE literally position ourselves in worship?
- The knock: Both directions—Jesus knocking with mercy, us knocking on our own hearts
- Being poured out: Paul’s libation language—liturgy as self-offering, not performance
- Tears that pierce clouds: The widow’s prayer, the orphan’s cry—prayers that CREATE transformation
- Standing by: God’s physical proximity when everyone else deserts
Gestures:
- Beating breast: Could you invite this literally during the Penitential Act? Not as performance, but as a question: if the knock is from outside (Jesus) or inside (your buried heart). Or maybe it’s both.
- Come closer to the table: What would need to happen for me to move from the the back of the church closer to the table? What keeps me at a distance? What tells me how close to the altar I can come.
- The knock: Gentle tapping on chest—”Heart, are you still there?”—Do we believe that Jesus wants to meet us exactly when and where we are.
Worship and Music:
- The theme of being held, being met without earning or deserving; standing upright in front of God and bowing down;
Flexibility Note:
This Sunday is challenging because nobody wants to be the Pharisee, though most of us recognize ourselves in his exhaustion, his resentment, his box-ticking. Let us not shame the Pharisee but create space where it’s safe for him to stand far off. Can we become a church where people can knock on their own hearts without performing contrition? Where the Pharisee exhausted from holding it together knows he can finally let go?
FREE RESOURCES
- BIBLICAL BACKGROUND A simple summary of the readings to help us navigate the sacred story and help you craft a meaningful liturgy this Sunday.
- PENITENTIAL RITE – A simple LAY IT ALL DOWN practice to empower the embodied participation in the liturgy and still our minds for the presence of God.
You are welcome to use the resources for your liturgical and non-liturgical gatherings.
