It is the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost. Today’s Bach cantata is “Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei” (See to it, that your fear of God be not hypocrisy):

The performance was recorded live at St. David’s Cathedral in Wales.

Today’s Gospel reading is Luke 18:9-14:

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The text of today’s piece is available here. It contains these words:

Who is on the inside just like the outside,
can be called a true Christian.
Thus was the tax-collector in the temple,
who beat his breast in humility,
he did not credit himself with a holy existence;
and this sets for you,
o fellow man, a worthy model
for your repentance;
though you are no thief, adulterer,
no unrighteous oath-breaker,
ah, do not imagine therefore
that you are angelically pure on that account!
Acknowledge your sins to God in humility,
so that you can find mercy and aid!

. . . .

Wretched man that I am, wretched sinner,
I stand here before God’s face.
Ah God, ah God, be gentle
and do not enter into judgment with me!
Have mercy, have mercy,
God, my Forgiver, over me!

Happy listening! Soli Deo gloria.

[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]