Thoughts going in, Sun Oct 24th

Luke 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 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. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13 "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.' 14 "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."

I love this parable, and I love the CHALLENGE of preaching on a passage that is relatively well-known. It’s the well-known passages of the Bible that tend to have the little surprises in them that people skip over because it’s such an old and familiar story. So, let’s take it from the top.

Vs 9 tells us this IS a parable. It’s worth noting only because it’s a legitimate thing to ponder/wonder. Just because Jesus tells a ‘story,’ doesn’t mean it’s a parable. We generally accept that a parable is a made-up story (either by Jesus himself, or by the culture of his era) to illustrate a certain point. A non-parable story, however, could easily be something that really happened that Jesus then uses as a teaching illustration. So, ok, fine…this is a parable—likely made up by Jesus on the spot.
As to who it’s intended for, this too is interesting: “to some who were confident of their own righteousness, and looked down on everyone else.” This is part of the Travel Narrative in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to embrace his cross & die for the sins of the world. He’s attracting a crowd on the way, tho, because not everyone KNOWS why he’s going to Jerusalem. SOME think he’s going there to knock heads, kick butt, and take names. In other words, some in this retinue believe him to be The Messiah, but they expect the Messiah to constitute God’s liberating army. So in other words, Jesus’ own disciples are with him, but there’s also a sort of “mixed crowd” following him—including some who “were confident in their own righteousness.”

Vs 10: Two men go to the temple to pray. We think of the Temple primarily as a place of SACRIFICE, but there were also designated times for daily prayer. The PHARISEE: **Large books have been written about who these guys were, but in short, the Pharisees were the ones during Jesus’ day who took the worship of God the *most seriously. They were doing their best to follow everything they thought was a rule of God and even trying to fill in gaps in God’s favor where there was some question. What’s more, as a group, they were doing this FOR ISRAEL. Their hope was to inspire *others to follow their example, and that either way, God would see this devotion to the purity of their religion and would deliver them from Roman tyranny. The TAX COLLECTOR: There were several categories of tax collectors…but ALL were despised for their collaboration with Rome, and the fact that they made their living/profit from the very system that ‘enslaved’ the Jewish people. People wouldn’t have been too surprised that a Pharisee was in the Temple praying, but WHAT is this tax collector doing here?

Vss 11-12, the Pharisee’s prayer. One thing I wondered right away was whether or not this prayer was “legit.” After all, it’s easy to put words in the mouth of our enemy, and one of the strange things about the story of Jesus is that THE MOST godly/religious people of the land totally miss the fact that Jesus is their Savior. Hence, it seems that at every turn, Jesus is jousting with the Pharisees—and the Gospel writers point this out a lot. Well, turns out that this **IS a rather typical prayer of era for a highly religious Jewish person to pray. One of my sources cited prayers from the Mishnah, & the Qumran community that basically thanked God for the fact that the person praying was so holy. Truth be told, even some of the psalms seem to tilt in this direction (eg: Ps 31:6 I hate those who are devoted to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord).

Vs 13, the Tax Collector’s prayer. One of the main things that separates his prayer from the prayer of the Pharisee is that the Tax Collector actually PRAYS FOR SOMETHING—mercy. At best, the Pharisee’s prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving—at worst, it’s a haughty exercise of self-indulgence. Regardless, the Pharisee’s prayer indicates that in his estimation he has EVERYTHING he needs thanks to the way he’s ordered his life & practices his religion.
Interesting enough, most of us seem to have a pretty easy time critiquing the Pharisee’s prayer, but then give the Tax Collector a free past. But wait….evidently from the parable we’re to assume that when the tax collector is done beating his breast & praying for mercy, he’s going to go out and pick back up with his regularly scheduled life of working for Rome & cheating the people. It never says that he repents; it never says that he’s going to amend his life. Where is “go and sin no more?” You may want to read those things IN TO this story, but that’s precisely what you’d be doing….you’d be reading in things that really aren’t there.

So then, what are we to make of this parable? On the one hand I think it’s worth mentioning that even REPENTING and AMENDING our lives don’t curry favor with God. Oh, that doesn’t mean that we SHOULDN’T repent or amend our lives where needed. But TOO OFTEN we’re tempted to think that **THESE** are the sorts of things that IMPRESS GOD. It’s all about manipulation. If I can just impress God by *ceasing to be bad, then he will look with favor on me. HERE, if nothing else, we have an example of bursting that balloon. The bad news is that there is NOTHING any of us can do to impress God—and that includes even repenting; even changing our lives for the better. In fact, **if you did those things for the sole purpose of trying to impress & then manipulate God, **that is adopting the mindset of a Pharisee! God REFUSES to be impressed by our goodness. As I say, that’s the bad news. But……it’s also the good news! If I can’t impress God with my goodness—or attempts thereof—then the only thing left for me is to, like the tax collector, ask for mercy. And in GREAT UNEXPECTED fashion, the doors of heaven fling wide open and mercy, love, acceptance and what this text calls JUSTIFICATION embraces the one praying. In short, the tax collector got exactly what he prayed for.

Before ending, however, I also have to note that the Pharisee got exactly what HE PRAYED FOR….which is nothing. In the end, the Pharisee told God that he already had everything he needed—which was sadly mistaken—but God certainly heard and answered his prayer. The prayer for nothing received nothing. But there’s more still to this side of the story. One of the biggest problems with the Pharisees—and by extension, ALL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE OF TODAY—is that they think that their devotion to “righteous living” impresses God’s sense of righteousness. Yet, somehow they ALWAYS forget that God’s sense of righteousness never prevents Him from being merciful and embracing society’s "dregs."

The Pharisee in the parable thought that the way he had patterned his life/religion made him a LOT like God. But the truth is, if he had been a LOT like God, he would have gone over to the tax collector and embraced him….because THAT’S WHAT GOD DID. How can we Christians begin to learn this lesson and live it? How can we begin to see that living “good, clean, decent, moral lives”…and believing the right things and coming to worship every week means that WE, of all people, should be the FIRST ONES to embrace, love, welcome, and accept the tax collectors & prostitutes of our day?

Don’t ever think that the Gospel is EASY. It’s not. It got Jesus and most of his disciples killed, and most people didn’t want anything to do with it. It’s not easy. But it is the SIMPLE way that God is remaking and reclaiming this world—in such a way that it can include EVERYONE.

Cheers,

TM