Sermons

Sunday 27th October 2013, Last Sunday after Trinity, morning

Luke 18:9-14

by Revd Tracy Dowling

Who are you - a Pharisee or a tax collector? You are not allowed to say neither. Which one do you identify with the most? Don’t worry, I am not going to ask you to put your hands up ….but yes, as a matter of fact I do identify mostly with the tax collector. Having said that, there are times when the Pharisee emerges in my thoughts – I will explain later.

Let’s think about who these people were. The Pharisee was a Jewish religious leader who interpreted the Jewish Law. He (and it would have only been a he) was a spiritual leader; he knew the Torah, the Holy Book, back to front. Pharisee’s have received a bad press as a rigid, judgemental lot; even worse, Jesus called them vipers and hypocrites, but they were much respected members of society. Tax collectors on the other hand were loathed and despised by all. They were not collecting tax according to laws for the good of society (like me!). Tax collectors in those days coerced and extorted money out of those who could not fight back (what has changed I hear you ask), but these tax collectors set their own tax rates and they creamed off every penny they could for themselves. They were Roman collaborators, traitors in the eyes of the Jews. Tax collecting was a dirty, violent business.

Both men went up to the Temple to pray. One man looked down upon the other with contempt. When we come to church, do we ever hold others in contempt? The noisy neighbours - look at that lot, still in bed, sleeping off last night’s booze; the cars piling into the Savacentre - look at that lot, going shopping, in thrall to mammon and self-gratification; Look at us, going to church to worship. It is easy to be a bit smug. It is human nature to have moments of self-righteousness. But can you imagine coming into church and looking across to someone sitting alongside and thinking, “I am glad I am not like him or her.” It is not pleasant is it? By doing this, we are putting ourselves above them, better in some way. We might say to ourselves, “I am glad I am not ill like him, I am glad I do not have her problems.” Instead we should be saying “Thank God for my good fortune, my healthy body, my secure job or my loving family”. Somehow, we can put a gulf between ourselves and those who are suffering in some way. Well, the Pharisee puts a very big space between himself and the tax collector. The Gospel tells us that the Pharisee was standing by himself. That says something about him. He thinks he is special to God; worthy of his own special audience.

Then the Pharisee says, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people (he clearly thinks he is unique), people like thieves, rogues, adulterers, even like this tax collector”. You can imagine him looking up to God, with his chin set at a self-satisfied angle. Now here comes the rub, the Pharisee says,” I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all my income”. That’s it then, the Pharisee is perfect, sinless; he has earned God’s grace and mercy; he has earned it by his good works; his self-sacrifice; his self-discipline. Do you think his gratitude to God is real? No, he is not thanking God that he is not like other men, he is saying “look at me, I am not like other men because I am better than them”. “I am better than them because I do the right thing, I fast and tithe beyond what is required by the Law”. I am sure he thinks that he does not suffer from the sins of ordinary humanity, lust, greed, lack of compassion, envy and so on.

The tax collector by contrast is all in a huddle by himself for different reasons. He cannot look up. You can imagine him hunched over, beating his breast “God be merciful to me, a sinner”. In fact the tax collector is in a way reciting a form of what we now call the Jesus prayer, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. I think that this prayer is not a groveling, self-berating, self-piteous bleat, but instead it is what I call being “right sized” with God. It is a sense of knowing in our hearts that all good things come from God, that we cannot earn his grace and forgiveness by the works of our own hands; that everything is a gift; life is a gift, creation is a gift, love is a gift. The attitude that says “I have done this and this and now I am entitled, entitled, to God’s love or mercy”, just does not wash. Worse still is the attitude that they, whoever they are, the tax collector in this case, are not entitled to God’s love or forgiveness.

That attitude is entirely toxic; it is the very opposite of the way Jesus calls us to be. This attitude is very invasive; it is growing in our society. They are not entitled, because they do not work, because they were not born here, because they are pretending to be ill, because they are poor, because they are unmarried mothers. They, them, those not like us. They are not entitled because they do not do the right thing. Toxic judgment. The Pharisee thought he was in a good position to judge everyone on account of him being so perfect, but what about ordinary people. Do we judge others? We might try not to, but it is very easily done.

So what happened after the prayers in the Temple? Jesus says that tax collector went home justified, that is forgiven and in a restored relationship with God and the Pharisee did not. The great irony is that Pharisee went away thinking he was justified. He was as deluded about his relationship with God as he was about his own good self. It is that very blindness, seeing ourselves in a distorted light that causes all the trouble. If we are “right-sized” before God, we know our true worth, we know we are loved by God even though we are sinners, even though we make mistakes and mess up. If we are “right sized” before God, then we are much more likely to be “right sized” before others. We do not see ourselves up there and others down there or vice versa.

I will finish on this liberating thought. The Pharisee thought it all depending on him and his performance. We can know without doubt that it does not all depend upon us; we can let go of our reliance on worldly achievements and social standing. They have their place, but that place is not at the very core of our relationship with God. Here we all stand before Him as absolute equals and it is what is in our heart that counts. God knows exactly how we judge ourselves and others, even the silent, secret judgments, yet the promise is the same for us all, Pharisee or tax collector “all who exult themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exulted”. Amen