Weekly Seeds: Humbled or Exalted
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost| Year C
Focus Theme:
“Humbled or Exalted”
Focus Prayer:
Exalted One, help us to humble ourselves and to be merciful to all . Amen.
Focus Scripture:
Luke 18:9-14
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
All readings for this Sunday:
Joel 2:23-32 and Psalm 65 • Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 and Psalm 84:1-7 • 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 • Luke 18:9-14
Focus Questions:
What is humility?
How do we recognize humility in others?
How does our culture encourage or discourage humility?
What does it mean to exalt?
How do we exalt ourselves? How do we exalt God?
Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay
I was once listening to a candidate for office expound on how great they were. They shared their accomplishments, experiences, and expertise with confidence and vibrancy. I found their speech compelling and persuasive until the end. After several minutes of speaking well of themselves, which was admittedly the entire point of the gathering, they declared that we should vote for them because they were “humble.” Now, I think it is entirely possible that was true, but there was a disconnect between the extensive, if necessary, self-promotion, and their pronouncement of humility.
True humility does not need to be declared when character attributes are proclaimed by the manner in which we live. At the same time, false humility is not commendable nor is insecurity. One pretends at humility by presenting one’s accomplishment in a diminishing way while ensuring they still get highlighted. The other is an internal sense of inadequacy that ignores the good gifts and contributions one brings to the world. Humility does not require pretense nor self-diminishing. A humble posture recognizes both the source and purpose of what God has given to us and what we have done with it.
In the gospel narrative, Jesus contrasts the prayer postures of a truly humble person and one not even pretending to be. More than their prayerful states demand comparison. Their positions in life were remarkably identified. One was a tax collector; the other a Pharisee. These are not equal comparisons. One is an occupation; the other denotes religious belonging. Yet, both are markers of identity with implications for social and religious standing. Neither would have been beloved within the surrounding community but for different reasons.
The tax collector was an agent of the state. They received compensation by collecting taxes owed to the Roman government by any means. Their activities were not regulated or restricted. They could, and often did, use tactics of intimidation and extortion to reach their goals. A tax collector could levy significant surcharges and expand their portion of the collected fees. They could come back to those who satisfied their obligation with claims that further monies were due. They operated without integrity, honor, or compassion. As a result, to be a tax collector meant being rich in resources at the cost of being reviled in the community.
On the other hand, the Pharisee belonged to a religious sect or tradition that promoted certain values and practices as means of deepening and demonstrating faith. As the group grew in stature and influence, the emphasis shifted from deepening to demonstrating. The guidelines they voluntarily adopted for themselves as a form of devotion morphed into rules they imposed upon others as standards of right standing in the religious community. Unfortunately, those standards were lifted so high that even the Pharisees could not maintain them. Yet, they continued to impose them upon others with significant consequence.
To the hearers of this parable, neither of the two characters would be sympathetic based on their identifying attribute. It’s the contrast in their attitude that makes the difference.
The parable in 18:9–14 revisits inclusion and exclusion. The addressees (some who trusted that they were right and despised others) are new. A Pharisee and a tax collector pray at the temple. Neither the Pharisee’s gratitude for what differentiates him from others nor the tax collector’s plea for God’s mercy typify prayers of their group (Wolter, 593). Rather, group identity reflects social standing. Reminiscent of 13:23, in which it is presumed few will be saved and many will wind up outside, the first worshiper is not justified, the second is. Jesus, then, inverts honor and shame with a proverb (18:14)….Social identity theory holds that members of groups exaggerate both in-group solidarity and distinctions from out-groups. Further, the social sciences identify honor as the pivotal value in antiquity. In this light, the Pharisee draws honor both from his in-group and by differentiation from tax collectors. The tax collector is inevitably a collaborator in imperial systems, but his prayer disavows norms of his group and implies changing group identity. As one whom God justifies (divine passive), he belongs to God’s commonwealth.
Robert L. Brawley
Generally, both tax collectors and Pharisees relied upon and contributed to the honor-shame codes that dominated the society at the time. While one operated for the state and the other within the faith community, they both relied upon shame to achieve their desired ends. Debtor’s prison and exclusion from religious observances both carry public shame. Further, the private shame that comes from being manipulated by these systems cannot be quantified. The difference in the story is that the tax collector reflects not only remorse but also solidarity as he cries out his shame before God. While unstated, the hearer would likely associate the tax collector’s contrition with his profession. The one who trafficked in shame has now realized that he’s covered in it…so much so that the only way to be released from it is to beat it off himself while acknowledging his offense and pleading for the Holy One’s mercy.
That is not the Pharisee’s approach.
By story’s end, these two men have exchanged roles, at least in Jesus’ appraisal. Of the two men, only the conspicuous sinner, the tax collector, returns home vindicated—that is, deemed righteous by God (dedikaiōmenos, a theological passive, in v. 14); thus the affirmation of God’s justice by tax collectors who had received John’s baptism (edikaiōsan in 7:29) circles back. But why? While the parable, with its inside-out status inversion of righteous Pharisee and sinful tax collector, may have been shocking for Jesus’ first listeners, Luke’s audience has been well tutored by the preceding narrative to make sense of the reversal. In a single snapshot the parable captures a set of interactions among Jesus, tax collectors, and Pharisees in which tax collectors have consistently responded positively to Jesus (as to John before him) and received his hospitality and acceptance, and with it also answered his summons to a reordered life. Yet Pharisees, despite the hospitality of shared meals, have resisted Jesus’ ministry and, in particular, his acceptance of tax collectors and other conspicuous sinners (5:27–32; 7:29–30; 15:1–2; for a similar reversal in roles between a Pharisee and a woman with reputation as sinner, see 7:36–50). The Pharisee’s prayer articulates his contempt for others whom he assumes to be morally deficient and therefore out of favor with God. He thus exemplifies the sin and need for mercy of the self-approved righteous, even if they do not recognize their need. In the realm of God, as Jesus imagines and enacts it in Luke’s Gospel, honor extends to those who do not seek to establish it for their own advantage, in a status-competitive arena that will inevitably mean diminished honor for others, but who instead trust God to provide authentic honor. Vindication, validation as just and virtuous, comes from God.
John T. Carroll
The tax collector has humbled themselves, the Exalted One recognizes that internal posture, and that is all the honor, righteousness, and justification needed. The church benefits from regularly revisiting this lesson as self-righteousness is a tempting sin even, and perhaps especially, when one commits one’s life to God. Jesus understood how easily people of faith can condemn others on the basis of values, beliefs, and practices. They call us to follow their path, in the One who should be exalted submits themselves to the most humble of circumstances. The Creator became creation. The Son of God became a child of Mary and Joseph. The Sovereign of all became a homeless tradesperson who gets run out of his hometown.Jesus knows something about choosing to be humbled before ever reaching the cross, and invites their followers to do the same.
Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent
The 33rd General Synod adopted a Resolution to Recognize the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024). As part of its implementation, Sermon and Weekly Seeds offers Reflection from Voices of People of African Descent related to the season or overall theme for additional consideration in sermon preparation and for individual and congregational study.
“A Plagued Journey”
By Maya Angelou
There is no warning rattle at the door
nor heavy feet to stomp the foyer boards.
Safe in the dark prison, I know that
light slides over
the fingered work of a toothless
woman in Pakistan.
Happy prints of
an invisible time are illumined.
My mouth agape
rejects the solid air and
lungs hold. The invader takes
direction and
seeps through the plaster walls.
It is at my chamber, entering
the keyhole, pushing
through the padding of the door.
I cannot scream. A bone
of fear clogs my throat.
It is upon me. It is
sunrise, with Hope
its arrogant rider.
Read the full poem here.
For Further Reflection
“To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.” ― Criss Jami
“These are the few ways we can practice humility:
To speak as little as possible of one’s self.
To mind one’s own business.
Not to want to manage other people’s affairs.
To avoid curiosity.
To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully.
To pass over the mistakes of others.
To accept insults and injuries.
To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked.
To be kind and gentle even under provocation.
Never to stand on one’s dignity.
To choose always the hardest.” ― Mother Teresa
“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” ― Michel de Montaign
A preaching commentary on this text (with works cited) is at //ucc.org/SermonSeeds.
The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments below this post on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.
About Weekly Seeds
Weekly Seeds is a United Church of Christ resource for Bible study based on the readings of the “Lectionary,” a plan for weekly Bible readings in public worship used in Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches throughout the world. When we pray with and study the Bible using the Lectionary, we are praying and studying with millions of others.
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Weekly Seeds is a service of Local Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ. Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version, © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.