In this week’s gospel passage, Jesus tells us the story of two men praying, one a Pharisee and one a tax collector.

The story has much to teach us about prayer, but it also tells something central about human nature itself, namely the great temptation to measure how we are doing in comparison to someone else.

And this is the game the Pharisee plays, the game of comparison. He doesn’t really pray at all. Rather he pronounces his own greatness by thanking God that he isn’t like other people. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11). Looking at his whole prayer, you’ll see that he doesn’t ask God for anything. Instead he tells God how great he is. He lifts himself up by comparing himself to others.

While we might not think of ourselves as Pharisees, and most of us are not, really, we all can too easily play the comparison game. We all have thought or said something like this, “At least I’m not like so and so. I know I’m better than that person.” And though the temptation to compare ourselves to others can be exacerbated by the merciless onslaught of information and social media, the comparison game is nothing new. It’s as old as humanity itself. Just ask Cain and Abel.

By contrast, what the tax collector understands is not his own greatness, but his own great need, and so he prays for mercy. His prayer must be our prayer. We all stand in need of mercy. And the heart of all prayer begins with that cry: “Lord, have mercy.”

Please join us this Sunday for our Instructed Eucharist service. We’ll take time during the service to explain the prayers and the liturgy and to describe why we do what we do in worship and where it comes from.

Chris+