October 23, 2022

Sermon title:  "The Pharisee and the Tax Collector"

Scripture:  Luke 18:9-14

(Other lectionary suggestions include Joel 2:23-32, Psalm 65, and II Timothy 4:6-8 and 16-18.)

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:  10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The 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. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' 13But 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!' 14I 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."

          Jesus certainly did not like PRIDE! Today's Scripture lesson proves it. There may be certain kinds of pride that it's okay to have, such as being proud of a child who does well in school or a child who does something nice for somebody. But in general, being prideful is not a good quality. And it's not only Jesus. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Pride goeth before a fall?" That may be from the ancient Greeks, or it may be in Scripture someplace. But wherever it comes from, it's good to keep in mind. Again, it's normal to feel good about certain things:  a victory of your favorite team over your arch-rival. But when you start to feel pride because you are "better" (whatever that means!) than someone else, that's when it's time to step back and re-think things.

          It has always been my feeling that Jesus was born into an extremely legalistic society. He also had a sensitivity that being truly religious meant having some compassion for others. Being truly religious meant being as honest with yourself as you are with others. Remember that Jesus came up with that very insightful comparison of not trying to remove the speck that is in another person's eye until you remove the LOG that is in your own eye! I just love that and cannot talk about it without smiling!

          But getting back to today's Scripture lesson, perhaps a little background information may help. The really devout of Jesus's day prayed 2 or 3 times daily:  once in the morning, once in the evening, and sometimes at noon. (I am reminded that in Islam, believers pray five times a day. Perhaps the Muslim faith got this from the older Jewish faith.) Anyway, it was thought that prayers in the Temple were better than prayers offered elsewhere, so Jesus is talking about two men who went up to the Temple to pray.

          One of these guys was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were a group of religious people who had separated themselves from the rest of society in order to be religious as they defined what "being religious" meant. The name "Pharisees" meant "separated ones".

          I mentioned a moment ago that Jesus was born into a very legalistic society. Some Pharisees thought that if they did MORE than the Law required, they would earn more merit with God. The Law required that a person fast only once a year, and that's on the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. Some Pharisees fasted also on Mondays and Thursdays, hoping to earn a few more bonus points with God. Now it just so happened that Mondays and Thursdays were days that people who lived outside of Jerusalem would go to market, Also, some of the Pharisees would try to look extra bad on those days, whitening their faces and wearing disheveled clothes so that those who noticed them would know that they were fasting! This seems preposterous to us, I know - but that's what some of the ultra-religious did, and I think Jesus HATED that practice! (Elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus says that if you fast, wash your face. You don't need to impress others; what you do you do for GOD.) But some people were bent on putting on a show for the masses, and Jesus is saying that prayer is between you and God. It is not a contest to see who can outdo others in being religious.

          I hesitate to tell you this next thing because I don't want you to think all Hebrews or Jewish people are like what I am about to quote to you. But there is a recorded prayer of a certain Rabbi of old - and I don't know his name or when he lived - but the prayer goes like this:  "I thank Thee, O Lord my God, that thou hast put my part with those who sit in the Academy, and not with those who sit at the street corners. For I rise early, and they rise early; I rise early to the words of the law, and they to vain things. I labor, and they labor; I labor and receive a reward, and they labor and receive no reward. I run, and they run; I run to the life of the world to come, and they to the pit of destruction." Isn't that terrible? You can bet that Jesus HATED that kind of attitude. And THAT is why he told the parable we heard today. Now, we should say that probably everything the Pharisee said was true. But he made the mistake, the ARROGANT mistake, I'd say, of comparing himself with another human being, in this case the tax collector. Read Isaiah 6 sometime, and you'll get the point:  compared to God, NONE of us can compare! As one of the Psalms says, If you, O God, are righteous, who among us can dare to stand before you? If you, O God, count our sins against us, who, O God, can stand? The Pharisee in today's Scripture didn't get it. He came to prayer to tell God how good he was. The concept of humility never crossed his mind.

          The tax collector, for his part, understands the difference between himself and God. When he says, "God be merciful to a me a sinner", a better translation would be, "God be merciful to me THE sinner." He wasn't just A sinner....he was THE sinner. He was rightfully humble before the Holy and Righteous God.

          What this parable teaches is that it is impossible to pray if you despise somebody, and the Pharisee obviously thought little of the tax collector! How dare any of us lift ourselves above others! Each of us is part of a great army of sinning and suffering and sorrowing humanity, and we all are kneeling at the throne of God's mercy.

          Also, it's impossible to pray if you are a proud person. Says William Barclay, the Scottish scholar, "The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save on their knees."

          I sort of alluded to this earlier, but when we pray, we aren't comparing ourselves to others. We're comparing ourselves to GOD! So, we had BETTER be on our knees, at least figuratively if not literally. I mean, God doesn't grade on the curve! Does any of us think that God will be impressed if we say, "Well, I'm not as bad as Hitler!"? I'm not as bad as so-and-so! No. It's not like we "beat out" other worse sinners on our way to Heaven! Prayer involves you and God, nobody else. It's always possible to find somebody who is worse than you, but that's not the point. It's also always possible to find somebody who is BETTER than you! Do you want God to judge you alongside Mother Teresa or St. Francis of Assisi? No. When we pray, it's between you and God. The Pharisee in today's lesson didn't understand that.

          But that's always the issue with us religious people, isn't it? There is always the tendency to think that since we have a relationship with God, we are BETTER than those who don't. Don't think that way, please! And consider this:  maybe because God has touched your life in some way, you have been blessed more than others. And if you have been blessed more than others, maybe more will be expected of you! Did you ever think of that? I think of that all the time! I have had a wonderful life and I am still having a wonderful life. But have I used my God-given blessings, including the knowledge of God, to the fullest? I hope so, but I'm not always sure about it! I know:  I'm a minister, and I think I should be a minister. But could I be a better person and minister? Just because I said YES to God and got ordained doesn't mean I have done all that I could have or should have! Remember the parable of the talents? I think about that parable often. Doesn't Jesus say someplace, "To whom much is given, much is expected"? I like it when rich people give a lot of their money to charity. They realize on some level that they are blessed, and they want to give back. And remember a sermon from a couple of weeks ago:  we can never put ourselves in God's debt. There is always more that we can do in thanksgiving for God's wondrous love for us. Amen.

Pastor Skip