Saturday of the 3rd Week of Lent
Archdiocesan Men’s Conference
St. Philip Neri
March 9, 2024
The Great Reversal
Back in 2018, the UMBC Retrievers stunned No. 1 Virginia in the NCAA March Madness play offs. No one expected the underdog, No. 16 UMBC, to defeat the Virginia basketball powerhouse – with its season record of 31 wins and only 2 losses. Even more unexpected was the way UMBC dominated the court, defeating Virginia 74-54, one of the biggest reversals in sports history. As one commentator said, the Retrievers “secured their place in the legacy of sports lore, alongside Buster Douglas, the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team, and Joe Namath’s Jets … not to mention the Ravens in 2012 and Orioles in 1983. (As an aside, I think our hometown wins are long overdue to win the World Series and the Super Bowl . . . maybe this year!)
The great reversal. Sports fans live for it. If you’re watching golf on Sunday afternoon, you really start paying attention when newcomer to the tour comes from behind and overtakes the pro at the top of the leaderboard. Or when you’re watching the Preakness and a horse comes from behind and beats the horse everybody is betting on, your adrenalin rises (especially if you made a heavy bet on the horse favored to win).
I’m pretty sure that sports commentators are happy about great reversals. It’s what keeps the fans watching and it also gives them a lot to talk about. Was it skill? Was it technique? Was it luck? Or God’s direct intervention?
The Great Reversal in the Gospel
We should be even more excited about the great reversal in today’s Gospel: Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector who went to pray in the temple. Who would take home the trophy? That is, who would go home “justified” in the sight of God?
The Pharisee was heavily favored. After all, he was an expert in the Law of Moses. Everyone thought he knew “how to pray like a champion” because he, more than most people, knew what God really wanted. So when it came to the Olympic event of prayer, the Pharisee was considered “world class”.
What’s more the Pharisee brought a lot of “wins” to the contest. He even took the time to tell God all about them: He fasted twice a week, paid tithes on his income, and avoided the sand traps of greed, dishonesty and adultery. So the Pharisee entered the race heavily favored to win.
What about the competition, the tax collector? Clearly, he was the underdog. First, the tax collector was considered to be a public sinner. After all, he was collecting taxes for the oppressive Roman Empire and these public officials were often accused of graft and greed. The Pharisee even calls the tax collector out in his prayer before God, as if he, the Pharisee, were not only a competitor but also the referee. What’s more, the tax collector entered the arena with no “wins” to his credit. Evidently, he didn’t fast and didn’t pay tithes on his income.
So what was his strategy as he entered the prayer arena? A humble contrite heart. He admitted he was a sinner. He opened himself up to God. Wouldn’t even raise his eyes to heaven but kept them cast down. What followed was not only a one-time upset, a one-time reversal but the great reversal, the great upset in all of history of salvation: the tax collector, the public sinner with no wins in his column, goes home justified whereas the Pharisee, a top-ranking religious expert, goes home defeated – defeated in the only contest that ultimately counts.
Skill, Luck, or Grace?
Like ESPN commentators, we might be asking the question, “Was it skill or was it luck?” Why did the Pharisee stumble? And how did the tax collector know what to do and say? And what does this outcome mean for our game?
It was neither skill nor luck. In fact, the Pharisee was defeated because he relied on his skills as an expert in religion convinced of his own righteousness. Further, the Pharisee looked down on just about everyone else, convinced that they couldn’t compete with his righteousness. But the tax collector entered the arena not relying on his own strength but relying on the grace and mercy of God, the power of God to expiate his sins. The Pharisee tapped into his own power and lost. The tax collector tapped into the power of God. He won the day.
Run So As to Win
In 1st Corinthians, St. Paul says, “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win” (9:24).
Today you are running so as to win. Many of you, in fact, most of you made a good, unburdening confession of your sins. Like the tax collector, you examined your conscience, you saw need. You saw those parts of your life where you need the grace and mercy of God, and then, in the grace of the Holy Spirit, you tapped into the power of Jesus Christ, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever”, and you shared in the great reversal that he came to bring about – the victory of good over evil, the triumph of grace over sin, the defeat of death by the death and resurrection of Christ.
This great reversal is not one and done. It’s not just for today. It’s how we are to live. The playbook is the Beatitudes where the Lord Jesus, Victor over sin and death, tells us that true victory, true blessedness, comes when we are humble and contrite: poor in spirit, pure of heart, peacemakers, hungering for holiness, ready to stand up for our faith, those who love others as God loves them. The point of this annual Men’s Fellowship is so that you and I can win, in spite of everything that is going against us, but not on our terms (like the Pharisee) but on God’s terms (like the tax collector) by daily tapping into a strength not our own but the strength which comes from God: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever!”