Luke 18:9-14
Jesus 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 lift up his eyes 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.”
Introduction
We are living in an age of arrogance and braggadocio. It seems that everywhere we
turn we see people preening like peacocks and boasting about their looks, money,
achievements, or style. Television and social media play a big role in this as
influencers, entertainers, athletes, and entrepreneurs try to get your attention and your
money. It is not enough to be a talented musician, you have sing about how you are
the greatest of all time and that your rivals are bums. Athletes compete not just to win
but to be on the highlight reels with their celebrations. Politicians claim to be the
smartest and insult their predecessors. Influencers constantly brag about their
attractiveness and savviness. I heard recently that parents are spending thousands of
dollars competing with other parents over whose child has the best birthday party.
Billionaires who have more money than they could even count have to brag about
how much richer they are than other billionaires. Young people are told in school that
they have to establish their own brand and let employers know how great they are.
Even in Christianity, we have preachers who seem to confuse devotion to God with
devotion to their own status and fame.
This is also the age of the humble brag when someone says something that appears
self-deprecating but really highlights their achievements. How many people, I wonder,
in job interviews have claimed that their worst problem is that they are overachievers
and perfectionists? In the church, we can even brag about being humble. In his
1parody song Amish Paradise, Weird Al Yankovich sang that he “is a million times as
humble as thou art.” Or, as I’ve often said in my Moravian history classes, Moravians
have delusions of humility rather than delusions of grandeur. Sometimes, even our
prayers to God can sound like a recitation of how much more we have to be grateful
for than other people.
Pharisee
In our gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus teaches a powerful lesson about prayer
and spirituality that directly contradicts our modern obsession with self-promotion.
Jesus was such a good story teller that we can easily see the two men in the parable as
they offer their very different prayers in the Temple. Jesus tells us that one of them is
a Pharisee and the other a Tax Collector, but in some ways that does not matter. We
can see from that actions in the Temple who they are. One of them is confident and
proud. He is the kind of person who can swagger while sitting down. He is not
plagued by self-doubt or anxiety. He is so well-fed that he can fast twice a week
without damaging his health. He is so prosperous that he doesn’t have to skimp on
his offerings to the Temple. He is so certain of his righteousness that he boldly stands
alone where everyone can see him give his prayers. He assumes that even the priests
and rabbis will recognize his sanctity. And he prays loudly, thanking God for making
him such a wonderful person.
You may remember that old song by Carly Simon “You’re so vain,” that tells a rich
handsome man that he is so vain he probably thinks the song is about him. That’s the
Pharisee. He is so vain that he thinks that the Temple and the prayers and the fasting
and everything in his religion is about him. He stands alone in the Temple and talks
about himself.
Just to make sure that his audience gets the point, Jesus tells us that the man
happened to be a Pharisee. For centuries, Christians have misunderstood this parable
as being critical of Pharisees and their form of devotion. The man in the parable is not
a pompous self-absorbed judgmental creep because he is a Pharisee. He probably
became a Pharisee because he was already a judgmental self-absorbed braggart who
used religion to promote his own status.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were people who studied the Scripture and sincerely tried
to please God by following the laws of Moses as strictly as they could. A few of them
were rich, but most were what we might call middle class. They did not have to labor
2like poor people and they had extra money give alms to the poor. Modern Judaism
has its roots in the Pharisee movement of Jesus’ day, and some of the Pharisee
teachers were wise and compassionate interpreters of Scripture. But the Pharisees, like
many Christians today, sometimes focused so intently on appearing righteous that
they missed the point of religion entirely. Instead of using their religious rules, like
fasting, to help them become more compassionate, understanding, and forgiving, they
became proud and filled with contempt for everyone who fell short of their standards.
Not like other people
The Pharisee is thankful to God that he is not like other people. He is not a thief or
rogue or adulterer. He is prosperous enough to be an honest person and he is faithful
in marriage. He is thankful to God that his self-discipline has been richly rewarded,
but it is not enough that he is happy he is good. He must be better than other people
and they must know that he is better. People like the Pharisee treat religion like a
fraternity or sorority that has to black ball the riff raff and the common folk to make
you feel elite.
Perhaps the most telling thing about this Pharisee is that he was standing alone. Even
in the house of God, the Pharisee is alone. He wants God to look at him and him
alone. He is afraid that the sinners, the beggars, the lepers, and the little people will
infect him if he touches them. He must keep his skirts clean and his eye on the prize.
Tax collector
And then there is the other guy. Jesus has to point him out to us because he is hidden
in the shadows of the Temple. He is standing in the back, not because he wants to get
to the coffee first after worship, but because he does not want anyone to notice him.
He is humble, not because he is trying to be humble. He is humble because every day
his neighbors humiliate him. He is humble because he knows that the righteous look
down their noses at him and spit on the ground as he walks by. He is humble because
he knows he can never offer one of those long and eloquent prayers that he hears
others praying. He hasn’t memorized the Psalms and he doesn’t keep the Ten
Commandments in a little container tied to his forehead like the Pharisees.
He is a tax collector that makes him a figure of hatred and ridicule. I used to have an
IRS agent in my Sunday School class, and he was a paragon of virtue and kindness,
but he was hesitant to tell people what he did for a living. It was much worse in Jesus’
day. This man was collecting taxes for the Roman Empire that controlled Judea. He
3was collecting the money that paid the soldiers who were abusing the Jewish people.
the only way the tax collector’s only salary came from overcharging people and
collecting more than required.
We don’t know much about this man. If he had a chance to speak, he may have told
us that the reason he was a tax collector was because he was trying his best to keep his
neighbors from being assaulted, abused, and killed by underpaid Roman soldiers. He
may have told us that he had been forced to collect taxes to protect his family from
arrest. Perhaps he saw no difference between paying taxes to Ceasar and paying taxes
to the corrupt priests who ran the temple. We know almost nothing about this man
other than the fact that he was suffering spiritual pain. He does not try to justify
himself and convince God that he is better than he is.
He felt so unworthy that he could barely step into the beautiful Temple. He could not
lift his head to marvel at the stones. All he could do is whisper to God, to ask God to
show him mercy because he was a sinner. His heart was broken and his head was
bowed, not as a show of piety, but because he was afraid to look up. Have mercy on
me, a sinner. Like the Pharisee he is talking about himself, but he does so in self-
awareness and humility. Lord, have mercy upon me. He is like George Bailey on the
bridge in It’s a Wonderful Life, simply begging God to let him live again.
Justified
And God heard the Tax Collector’s prayer. Jesus says that he left justified, which
means that he was brought in a right relationship with God. He did not justify himself
or his actions to God. Unlike so many of our public figures today, he does not try to
convince others that he bears no responsibility for any harm people experienced
because of his actions. His lawyers did not write him a carefully worded non-apology
that says he is sorry if others were offended by him. No, he simply opens his heart in
prayer to God, and God hears his prayer.
Later this morning we will have our church council, and it is important to think about
why we have church. When we say that everyone is welcome at Home Church and
that we hope that this place will truly be home for you, what we are saying is that we
hope you will bring your true self to church. We are saying that we hope you will open
your heart to God and let God know your pain, your fear, your shame, and your
deepest need. In our Ground of the Unity, Moravians acknowledge that we are a
church of sinners who need forgiveness daily. We are grateful to Christ that we do not
4need to stand alone and recite our spiritual resume to prove that we are worthy of
God’s grace. We can pray, Lord have mercy on me, a sinner, and let God justify us.
Conclusion
The oldest liturgical prayer in the Christian church is simple. In Greek it is Kyrie
eleison. Lord, have mercy. At the end of this service we will pray this prayer, and I
hope we can truly pray it in the depth of our hearts. Christ, have mercy upon us.
Amen.
