We Only Fool Ourselves

[A reflection on the Gospel for the Mass for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, October 26, 2025. Please visit https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/proper-25c/ for all the readings assigned.]

Modesty is no longer a virtue, I guess.

Those of us in the business world are bombarded with messages and tips on how to promote ourselves in our résumés, our curricula vitae, our performance evaluations, our status reports, our project presentations, and our sales pitches (because we all know one is selling oneself along with the product). Social media influencers spend a lot of time and effort building up how they appear in their broadcasts, establishing authority as a subject matter expert or the go-to person for the latest trends. Let us not get started on politicians, either.

Religious self-promotion is no exception, and I do not mean to one's fellow humans. You read that right, there is a massive trend toward self-promotion to the face of God...at the expense of others...and it is not a new trend, as today's Gospel shows.

Upon sober reflection, the cringe-factor is off the charts, but when has that stopped anyone?

Our Lord minces no words when addressing this. The parable of the Publican and the Pharisee is a well-known one, but if one does not know it, I highly recommend stopping right now, clicking on the link above, and reading it (Lk. 18.9-14). Our Lord paints a very vivid picture of two men in the Temple praying, one being a well-respected member of the religious establishment, the other being a contractor with the Imperial Revenue Service (three guesses as to how respected this man was). Their prayers are very different. The Pharisee (the respectable one) "thanks" God with a long, windy bragging session, casting shade on the other man nearby. The Publican (the disreputable one) cries for mercy, knowing full well he is no saint and that there is nothing between him and God to hide the stain on his soul; the status of the other man nearby does not even enter into his thoughts. Only one of the two found favour with God, and it was not the "respectable" one.

If God is anything, He is the summit of all truth. Pretense and play-acting and self-promotion are ineffective with Him because He always sees to the heart of the person before Him. He sees the kindnesses one does as well as the casual insults one hurls at others. He sees the spiritual rot behind the strenuous spiritual exercises. He sees the true person behind the person's self-delusion. God wants us to be honest not only with Him but with ourselves, to look at our own brokenness and desire for wholeness, our opportunities to improve and to grow in His love and His truth. God definitely does not want us comparing ourselves to others (because who really knows the true measure of another?), just an honest look at our own selves and asking for God's mercy to help us to become one with him. As Our Lord pointed out, it was the man honest with himself and not comparing himself with others, and humbly asking for God's help and mercy, who received what he prayed for.