Today is a very special day in the life of this church. It is Reformation Sunday, and we
remember that "protest" and reform brought about the way of life within the church that we are most familiar
with. It is also a day on which we are honoring three very special people in the life of this congregation, all
of whom have something in common related to the scriptures we were given for this day. They honestly do not feel
that they have done anything to deserve your recognition!
Very often this parable of Jesus found in Luke's gospel is interpreted as being an encouragement to a lifestyle
of humility, and at first glance it clearly is. We do not want to overlook Luke's own explanation however, which
is a bit more involved. He tells us that Jesus told this parable to those who "trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and regarded others with contempt." There is a duality of misguided purpose there that
must not be overlooked, and it ties in with last week's lessons on having our focus in the wrong place.
I want us to start by taking a look at the two individuals involved in the parable. To begin with, the Pharisee
might not have been quite the caricature we presume him to be. A Pharisee was taught from childhood to trust in
himself, that somehow he had a handle on the truth and on God. Moreover the society of the time would have confirmed
it. Every Jewish man was instructed to pray every morning thanking God that they were not born as women, so that
they could follow God's law. As much as we might find that a tad pretentious, the crux is about being able to follow
the Law. As you know, women of that time period earned their sense of righteousness from following tradition. By
virtue of their sex alone they were not seen as religious leaders able to grow closer to God.
Therefore, observing the Law would have been seen as a gift from God - a privilege - and thus something to thank
God for. Since only males followed the law and could thus be closer to God, thanking God that they're not like
others might have been a natural product of their upbringing. So a self-righteous attitude began at birth, and
was compounded by those who taught and maintained those teachings. Many people looked up to the pharisees and believed
everything they told them.
The thought of reform was heresy, punishable by death.
Note too that the text never says specifically that the Pharisee was condemned; just that the tax collector was
the one who went home from worship "justified." How tragic to be in a righteous-seeming state of limbo,
only to discover that one cannot receive that which one doesn't ask for - in this case, justification.
To get a real sense of what is taking place here we would have to update it to our current reality and imagine
that down here by the altar rail one of our number is offering a rather loud prayer to God which goes something
like: "I thank you Lord that I am White, Male, Middle Class, and American! That I live a lifestyle comparable
with those realities unlike so many others in this world today."
Clearly that person would be no fool. They would only be acknowledging the fact that they would with greater ease
be given more slack, more credit and more opportunity by society because of those very things. The sin would be
in taking pride in any of them, for not one is a justifiable accomplishment.
We cannot take credit for what we just "fell into" nor act superior on the basis of long standing cultural
prejudice. We cannot really even take credit for becoming Christian, given our heritage and our belief in God's
prevenient grace. Most of us were raised where, and when, and by those for whom Christianity was as expected as
speaking English. We are hardly self-made. Much of any good in all of us was implanted in or urged upon us.
I feel sorry when I hear someone say "I am not proud to be an American." Few would hardly dare to say
it now, but some have. I think we should be grateful to be Americans, and proud of things we have worked for to
achieve. Most of us were born American. Nobody asked us to choose our nationality. Maybe the only people who should
be allowed to buy bumper stickers or t-shirts proclaiming themselves "proud to be American" are those
who have worked to earn their fare, studied to take the test and gained their citizenship by their own efforts.
What we need, both nationally and personally, is less pride and more gratitude.
Should we be then grateful for our blessings? By all means yes! But proud as if this were some self-achieved end,
offered to me but denied to others…never!
You see the difficulty with pharisaical analysis of our spiritual lives, is that we often point to the lowest denominator.
We try to gauge ourselves off of some other person who clearly lacks our qualities. I am fairly sure that the tax
collector in the parable had massive amounts of good attributes as did the Pharisee.
If you've already read your Outlook article for this week you know they both had expectations about receiving something
from God, otherwise why would they even show up in worship in the first place? But whereas the pharisee compared
himself to "other people" the tax collector compared himself to God.
All of us can find someone else to point to and feel better about ourselves because of. It doesn't take a great
deal of skill or effort, and we learn how to do it early in life. When however we see ourselves in relation to
an all gracious, all knowing, and all loving being, we have no choice but to acknowledge our own unworthiness.
If one follows Paul's own spiritual journey through his letters, we discover that slowly, but surely, despite his
great theological contributions, he began to realize his total unworthiness. We have been reading his letters to
Timothy for several weeks, all written in the final weeks of his life. In 1 Timothy 1:15 he says: "The saying
is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the
foremost."
Our tax collector in the parable would have heard that as "good news." We don't know what sin the tax
collector was burdened by. We don't know if he conquered his sin or if he came back to the temple frequently. We
don't know if he ever became an upstanding member of the community. We don't know if the tax collector even noticed
that the Pharisee was also there. His interaction at that point was simply between himself and God.
We do know, because Jesus said so, that on that day he went home justified. Just as we know that "A broken
and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."
One of the things I have always appreciated about support group ministry, twelve step programs, or any setting
which challenges people to take off the masks and say things like "I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional"
or "We put the FUN in dysfunctional" - is that we are allowed to stand before God and one another to
see, and own, and confess our own unworthiness, and are thus able to truly receive that amazing grace which has
always been there waiting for all to live in. Like Paul before us we can take comfort in the fact that "there
is reserved for us the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give us on that day, and
not only to us but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Mercy makes our hearts spacious; and it also mercies the space around us. Mercy becomes the space we live in. The
most surprising character in the parable is neither the Pharisee nor the publican. The shocking character there
is God. That is where the focus has always belonged, and someday, in the words of the prophet Joel, someday that
is what we will all finally come to see. The one who was justified will go home to find companions, the one who
was not…will remain alone.
It has been said that the church is a hospital for sinners, not a play ground for saints. It is difficult to talk
about our own humility, without pride raising its ugly head, unless our humility is balanced by constant reflection
on the goodness of God, and maintained by a recognition of our lifelong need for the amazing grace that only God
can give.
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