Luke 18:9-14, Proper 25 C

October 23, 2022

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 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. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 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.”

| Centering Prayer |

Our Gospel lesson

Follows last Sunday’s

“Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge.”

Jesus taught about the importance of prayer,

Persistent prayer.

Unrelenting prayer.

Praying for justice.

Praying, knowing God answers our prayers.

Today, Jesus immediately follows on with a second parable,

Often called “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.”

This is not a story about the virtues of righteous living.

This is a story about were one plants and grows their faith.

…

Jesus uses role reversal as a literary technique in this parable.

The status,

the values

of contrasting people

are exchanged                                                       

so that listeners are taken by surprise.

The good man goes away disappointed,

while the bad one leaves forgiven.

The angel is made into a devil,

And the devil is made into an angel.

In a way,

Jesus is painting a picture for us

of what the new age will be like.

The present, evil age will be brought down

and Christ’s new kingdom will take its place.

…

Take note of Jesus’ immediate audience.

They are described as

“some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous

and regarded others with contempt.” (18:9)

The practice of placing trust in yourself

and in your righteousness

is a type of

arrogant, self-assured piety.

Jesus is asking

Do you really think you don’t need to trust God?

Do you believe you are capable of such righteous behavior that you are without sin or blemish?

He is also making a statement about how one treats others.

Are we to despise others?

To regard others with contempt?

Clearly, Jesus is commenting that such behavior

it is a form of spiritual condescension.

Together, Jesus describes his audience

as being exactly like the character of the Pharisee

in his story: people filled with pride and arrogance.

The audience and the Pharisee are as one.

Brilliant!

…

This fictional Pharisee is an interesting guy.

Not all Pharisees were like this fella;

in fact, he was probably an exception.

There are many examples in the Bible and elsewhere

of Pharisees behaving better,

who were humble and compassionate.

Judaism placed a theological emphasis on legalism,

Righteous living, and merit.

In this environment

there was always the danger of spiritual pride.

This Pharisee did have some good attributes.

1. He attends temple and prays silently.

If they handed out perfect attendance pins,

He would have had oodles of them.

2. His prayer follows the Jewish liturgy of the day:

“Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe

who …”

But then his prayer takes an unexpected turn and flies off the rails.

He thanks God that he was not like others in the crowd:

Thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like that tax collector.

Thank God he wasn’t

Made a Gentile, a slave, a woman.

Thank God he wasn’t made … (you fill in the blank).

3. The Pharisee lives a righteous life, and

He makes it a point to remind God about it.

4. The Pharisee engages in the spiritual discipline of fasting.

He is proud to exceed expectations.

Instead of fasting once a week, he fasts twice.

5. The Pharisee is generous.

He gives tithes of everything he gets;

not just giving ten percent of his income

from agricultural products

as required by Jewish law.

He parses the language like a lawyer.

6. The Pharisee is a praying man.

In his prayer,

he recognizes that God is the source of his lot in life;

extending to him blessings of favor and prosperity.

He thanks God in his prayer,

(thanking God is always a good thing)

and he doesn’t ask God for anything in return.

There is no doubt about it,

this man was leading a life of exemplary righteousness.

That, nobody could deny.

Life was about to be turned upside down.

…

Then Jesus introduces to the audience the tax collector.

A number of years ago I received

One of those wonderful love letters from the IRS.

It was everything I imagined,

And worse.  

It might be more desirable to get a call

From your accountant telling you you’re broke

Or a call from your doctor informing you

that you have cancer.

Tax collectors in biblical times

Were loved even less than today’s tax collectors.

Rome set the tax rate;

often between 80 and 90 percent of people’s total income.

Such high taxes were required

to pay for very expensive Roman Legions

expanding the empire

and maintaining newly won territories.

Rome made the rules for collecting taxes.

They hired only willing collaborators.

The tax collector’s wage would be earned by commission,

on anything that could be collected above and beyond

the government tax.  

(And we think that taxes are high today!)

No wonder tax collectors

were often hated and thought of as extortionists.

To be a tax collector meant

they would have to profess their faith and allegiance

solely to Rome.

Besides being thought of as a dishonest extortionist,

the Jewish community

considered tax collectors disloyal to the people.

They were viewed as traitors.

Temple authorities would consider

A traitorous tax collector as “unclean”.

It appears that the tax collector in Jesus’ parable

Knew that he was unclean, too,

because we find him described in the story

“standing far off” away from the altar.

So here we have two people

on the hill of Zion in the temple praying;

two people who were

as different as black and white,

oil and vinegar,

day and night.

The audience to whom Jesus was speaking

probably began to believe at this point

that they understood how this parable concluded:

that Jesus was lifting up the virtues of righteousness.

(Perhaps you may have thought of this yourself.)

…

Instead, Jesus turns the world upside down.

The better characteristics of the Pharisee begin to tarnish.

Jesus knew that

“the proud are always most provoked by pride,”

because like the audience to whom Jesus was speaking,

Jesus paints the picture of this Pharisee

as one who trusts in his own righteousness,

despised others,

and was proud of who he was.

He lists all those who he is glad he is not like,

then he starts to make the case for himself.

Let’s be honest.

His prayer was never directed to God.

It’s focus is solely upon himself: I, I, I, …

look how righteous I am.

The worst part about the Pharisee

is that his idolatry is revealed.

He attempts to replace himself for God;

tries to take God’s place as the judge of other people’s soul:

“thank you that I am not like other people

– thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like

THAT tax collector.”

…

Thank God I’m Not Like YOU!

And oh, how easy this is to do!

“America is adrift.”

“We need to turn back to God.”

“Those people are what’s wrong with our country.”

“What’s wrong with all those people

who don’t come to church?”

It is so easy to yield to the temptation

to use a broad paint brush to blame others,

to judge others:

their lifestyles,

values,

upbringing,

or economic status.

This is the pride

which makes us a fallen angel,

St. Augustine proclaimed.

Judging others puts us in the position of spiritual arrogance,

of thinking that we are superior to others.

But arrogance and thinking more of oneself than of others

is completely contrary to the grace of God.

Being better,

or more righteous,

or leading a more clean life

doesn’t make us more acceptable to God.

Only a life of faith does.

Only a life of faith makes us acceptable to God.

A life of faith gives God pleasure;

A life of faith like the sinful tax collector was leading.

He, on the other hand,

recognizes his own sinfulness

and throws himself upon the mercy of the Lord.

The tax collector places his trust in the Lord,

Not in himself.

Both the tax collector and the Pharisee

are perceptive enough to confront the issue of righteousness,

or the lack thereof.

But it was only the tax collector

who moved beyond the issue of righteousness

to that of faith.

It takes faith and a whole lot of courage

to present yourself wholly and submissively

at the feet of Jesus.

Whereas the Pharisee trusted in himself

for his righteousness to save him,

the tax collector rightly recognized

that it was not righteousness that provides salvation.

He trusted not in who he was but in who God is.

God is merciful.

He hoped not in what he had

but in what he might receive:

mercy and forgiveness.

It is when one can extend faith and trust beyond the self,

to call upon the mercy of the Lord,

that one can expect to be justified,

to be made whole and perfect,

by Jesus Christ, our Savior.

…

This passage is the core of our Wesleyan / Methodist ethos:

We are justified, or made complete with God,

by our faith, not by what we say or do.

This is the stumbling point that I mentioned earlier.

Too many times down through the centuries,

Christians have failed to see this parable

as one whose purpose was little more

than to address the issue of doing good works

and humbly seeking forgiveness.

This is a parable that addresses

the deeper issue of what it means

to place one’s faith and trust in the Lord;

how to enter into relationship with Jesus Christ,

and how to grow that relationship

through lifelong discipleship.

The first step is to appeal to the mercy of Jesus.

Fall submissively at his feet.

Confess your sins.

Try praying repeatedly the Jesus Prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

This is true faith:

to trust in God,

and in God’s mercy,

instead of trusting in yourself.

…

When the Jews in the crowd

Understood the deeper meaning of this parable

They were outraged.

They lived, breath, and died by the Law.

It was the Law that saved you,

or so the Jewish mind thought.

Jesus’s teachings, therefore, were revolutionary:

that, what is important is faith,

not the actions of an individual.

Likewise, Jesus’s actions were revolutionary:

Justification comes at the foot of the cross

and salvation is a gift

left at the door of the empty tomb.

Jesus embodied a new covenant,

a new covenant that we celebrate with Eucharist,

that we remember by breaking, pouring and sharing

the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

This is not to say

that Jesus was unconcerned with people’s behavior.

Not at all!

Rather, Jesus is frying other fish.

Jesus was and is primarily concerned with faithfulness;

fidelity and trust in the mercy of the Lord.

While good works and righteous living

are always the evidence of faithfulness

it is possible to lead a good and moral life

outside of faith.

…

“What does this imply for us today?” you may ask.

“How is God speaking to me through our Gospel?”

We are all sinful.

Period.

Given this fact

Don’t try to fix problems of sinfulness by yourself.

Begin by seeking the mercy of God.

Go to the feet of Jesus and ask for his assistance.

Peter says it quite plainly,

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

(1Peter 5:5)

At first you may feel empty;

as if it is silly to ask for God’s help,

to ask God to be merciful to “me a sinner.”

But after time and with practice,

faith in God begins to bloom and grow.

Suddenly, you’ll find yourself

seeking to lead a righteous life

because of this brand-new relationship

that is growing between yourself and God.

This is the type of relationship

that Jesus Christ is begging

to have with each of us.

Take the first step,

like the tax collector did,

to initiate the spark,

that will ignite the flame of the Holy Spirit

within our hearts.

“Pride changed angels into devils,”

St. Augustine proclaimed,

and “Humility makes one an angel.”

The Pharisee was made into devil.

And the tax collector?

“I tell you,

this man went down to his home justified …

for all who exalt themselves will be humbled,

but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Go, and do likewise.

Amen.