30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
26th October 2025
Lectionary Readings: Si 35: 12-14, 16-19; Ps 34:2-3.17-91 =25; 2 Tim 4:6-8,16-18; Lk 18: 9-14
Theme: Righteousness
The gospel today, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, begins and ends in Luke’s Greek with repetition of the word dikaios meaning righteous or righteousness. This is obscured in English translations. Compare verses 9 and 14 in the three versions most commonly heard in public reading and note the words in bold. All of them are translations of dikaios. The Revised Standard Version (RSV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) put it this way:
9And he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous…
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified…
whereas the Jerusalem Bible (JB) has:
9He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous…
14This man I tell you went home again at rights with God…
By framing the parable with righteous(ness) Luke gives us a strong hint as to its meaning.
The Pharisee in Jesus’ story might best be described as self-righteous, obsessed with his own self-image. Many English versions describe him as praying “to himself” or “with reference to himself”. The tendency for good people to fall into this trap was recognized by the prophet Ezekiel, “When I say to the righteous (sad-diq), ‘Certainly he will live,’ and he trusted in his righteousness, and he turns and he does injustice, all of his righteousness (seda-qa(h)) will not be remembered…” (Ezek 33:13), using the Hebrew term tsadik for a righteous person. Righteousness is not to be confused with benevolence or philanthropy, still less with mere observance of the letter of the law.
Righteousness
The Talmud also explores the meaning of righteousness, describing it as walking after the Lord. In Sotah 14a.2-9 “R. Hama son of R. Hanina further said: What means the text: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God? But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He clothes the naked…so do thou also clothe the naked. The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick…so do thou also visit the sick. The Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners…so do thou also comfort mourners. The Holy one, blessed be He, buried the dead, for it is written: And He buried him in the valley, so do thou also bury the dead.” The vital importance of righteousness for the well-being of all is stressed in Yoma 38b.25, “R. Hiyya b. Abba said also in the name of R. Johanan: Even for the sake of a single righteous man does the world endure, as it is said: But the righteous is the foundation of the world.”
The term dikaios expresses concepts of justice, integrity, virtue etc. In both OT and NT it is deepened to mean a righteousness based on God’s law and a state of being in right relationship with God.
For Reflection and Discussion: 1. What is your own understanding of righteousness? 2. Discuss with others how you see righteousness expressed in today’s world.
Bibliography: Beale G.K. & Carson D.A. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids MI: 2007); Louw J.P. & Nida E.A. Lexicon of the New Testament (New York NY: 1989), 88.12.
This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Kevin L. McDonnell cfc, Australia, Bat Kol Alumnus: 2003, 2004, 2005
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