Publican or Pharisee?
January 28th, 2007 ~ Orthodox perspectiveWhenever you hear parables, do you think real quick whether you’d be the bad guy or the good guy in the story? I do, but the Publican and the Pharisee — which we all heard today in church — poses a bit of a problem. Because of course everyone would hope they’re more like the Publican. But then, if that leads you to say, “I thank you, God that I am not like that Pharisee,” aren’t you being more like the Pharisee?
Here’s a bit of icon reading for the day. It’s just something that occurred to me, so I can’t say that it’s what the icon is definitely supposed to be saying. But I noticed this a few years ago when teaching a church school session about iconography, and I pass it along for what it’s worth.
Here is the icon of the Publican and the Pharisee. It has the kind of split action that is used to advance the narrative in ancient art. So we have the Pharisee praying at the temple on the left and leaving on the right. The Publican prays on the right and leaves on the left.
This struck me as strange. Symbolic language in icons is very consistent in some ways. Just as Christ said that at the Judgment, the faithful would be at His right and the impious at His left, icons usually use those directions to indicate good and evil, right and wrong, or — in the words of this parable — justified and unjustified. Except the directions are reversed. The Pharisee should be leaving on the left side and the Publican on the right.
And then it occurred to me that if I were looking out from inside the temple — in the place of God, so to speak — the positions would be reversed. In other words, if I stood in the temple and looked at these two men on strictly human terms, I might judge the Pharisee as worthy and the Publican as unworthy. If, on the other hand, I saw as God sees — looked through His eyes — I might see things differently.
As I said, it’s just my own interpretation, so I’ve got no way of knowing if that’s what was meant for certain. But looking at things that way helps me with one thing, and that is the very strong inclination I have to consider that I can accurately spot the sinners and the saints. It’s an idiotic conceit, of course, but I find myself jumping to conclusions all the time, judging all the books around me by their covers, congratulating myself on my uncanny ability to read human nature … and all the time hoping, naturally, that other people are kinder than I am.
One last bit of reading from the icon. As they leave the temple, the Pharisee walks off without a backward glance, hands tucked neatly in his sleeves and looking every bit the self-righteous one who considering a job well done. The Publican turns back as he goes, he raises his head to the temple, his hands are raised as if in wonder. Is he meant to have felt something of God’s goodness and mercy in that moment? Or is it just the natural attitude of one who has poured out his real heart in humility, that he can’t bring himself to turn his back on God’s house?
More to the point, I suppose, did I look back as I left church today? Did I consider that I had done my duty?
And did I leave on the right or the left?
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January 29th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
LOL!
I enjoyed that line, “Lord, I thank you I’m not like the Pharisee.” SOmeone told that joke last night… I really liked it.
I can’t tell which one is the Publican or the Pharisee. How can you?
But in the icons of the crucifixion…the theif that repented is always on the right…right to the person looking at it, right? Or Christ’s right? Have I said, “right” enough.
I loved this post.
January 29th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Because the Publican has a halo so is saintly, and the Pharisee does not.
I am with you, I am usually far closer to the Pharisee than I’d like to admit.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Ah, makes sense.
January 29th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
wait are you sure that they are leaving the church? the halo isn’t at trhe bottom of the icon. Am I making sense?
I think the bottom of the icon is the two entering the church. The publican oinly obtains the halo on the top of the stairs.
January 29th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Uh oh. I think you’re right. Okay, so much for that part of the lesson.
I think I better stick to quoting “Diary of a Russian Priest.”
February 4th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
[…] As I said back here, I tend to wonder who I would be in a parable. Tomorrow we will all hear the parable of the Prodigal Son as we count down the Sundays to Lent, and at some point I’m bound to wonder whether I’m more like the wandering son or his steadfast but envious brother. I suppose the answer for this one — and ultimately for all the parables — is that at different times I’ve been different characters. I am the prodigal son when I sin and repent; I’m his brother when I judge others and am envious and self-righteous. […]
February 4th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Something went badly wrong with the transmission of this parable to the written text of the New Testament.
The obvious vquestion is “What happened next?”
Pretend you’ve never heard anyone comment on the text. What it says is that the Pharisee was a righteous Jew who obeyed the Jewish law. The publican was a tax farmer, who oppressed and cheated other Jews. He was the opposite of righteous.
The publican goes into the temple and emotionally beats his breast. But what happened next? Did he leave the temple and resign his scam as a Publican? Or did he go out and continue to oppress the Jewish people and then the following Sabbath go to the temple and beat his breast again.
In every other parable, when we witness repentence, somthing happens. Zacchaeus, another publican, gives one half of his ill-gained wealth to the poor. The prodigal son goes home, etc. Indeed, in every parable but this one, something happens. Here nothing happens. No one changes.
Thus we must assume that the the Pharisee will continue to obey the laws of God, while the Publican will continue to break the laws of God. (Remember that, given it’s position in the NT, this is a story by a Jew addressed to Jews.)
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
[…] 1. I discovered Grace at This Side of Glory before I was blogging myself. I wish I could write like her, she makes it seem so easy to be witty and thoughtful at the same time. I feel like I struggle for hours over one entry and it seems like her’s just slip off the fingers. I still think about that first paragraph of her entry titled: Publican or Pharisee? almost 6 months later. […]