Posts
Pentecost XXIIIc
Luke 18:9-14
A Pharisee and a Tax Collector walk into a temple…
it’s a very well-known story, and I bet you have heard a number of sermons about it.
Just to clear the air let me tell you what, in my opinion, this parable is not about.
This parable is not about humility. This parable is not about pride.
This parable is not about how we ought to pray.
It is not even a parable about repentance.
This parable is about GRACE.
We need to understand this right off the bat before any of you fall into the trap
of thinking that you know better than the Pharisee.
This would make you just as self-righteous as he is.
Which is not Jesus’ purpose.
This parable is about grace.
So now please ponder that:
When I tell you that God loves you, how do you feel?
When from the height of this pulpit, my collar, the three years in Seminary,
I tell you that God loves you how do you feel?
Incredulous? Honored? Warm and fuzzy?
When I tell you, as I have already told you many times before, that you don’t have to do anything to deserve God’s love, that it is a given, how do you feel?
Relieved? Doubtful? Cynical?
When I tell you that God loves you, yes, you
just as much as God loves every one of God’s children,
no more and no less, how do you feel?
Humbled? Appalled? Shocked?
I think the difference between the Pharisee and the Tax-collector
is that Mr Pharisee wouldn’t believe me
while Mr. Collector would look at me and go “well, duh”.
I know this because of how they pray.
Mr Pharisee’s prayer is all about him:
Look at ME, he’s saying.
Thank God I am not like everybody else
(and please note the real meaning of that “thank God”, totally perfunctory).
Thank God I am so much better. I am righteous. I am blameless according to the law;
I am a pillar of society and a model to aspire to. I don’t need to ASK for anything.
Thank God.
Mr Pharisee lives in a world in which if one works hard God will notice,
just as everybody else will notice.
And sooner or later one will be recognized, maybe with a blue ribbon.
Mr Pharisee lives for that recognition, and is very grateful -to himself -
for having achieved such a high status in his world.
Mr Collector doesn’t have a prayer, just 7 words: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Mr Collector lives in a world where everything and everyone is somehow broken
and utterly dependent on God. Where everyone, high and low on the totem pole,
is equally sinful, equally in need to be forgiven and taken care of.
In fact he is not repenting of something specific he has done.
He is not pledging to be a changed man,
to get a different job, to render restitution to those he has wronged.
He is simply acknowledging his broken state,
his inability to do what he ought to do,
and therefore to be entirely dependent on God’s grace.
That knowledge doesn’t leave any room for self-righteousness, or even for humility.
It is what it is and we are all in this together.
I told you. This parable is not about humility or pride, about religiosity or lack thereof.
This parable is about God’s grace.
And about the only human prayer that makes sense in a world of grace:
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
– continue to give me your grace because without it I am nothing.
My friends, God loves. God forgives. God gives.
To the proud and to the humble, to the weak and to the strong,
to the faithful and to the messed up.
To the Pharisees and to the Tax collectors.
And there is nothing we can do about it.
If we really all grasped that and were able to keep it in our hearts at all times
we would live lives of constant gratitude
and I would have no need to stand here
and remind you of the Pledge campaign
because we would all be too busy giving back to God what God has given us first.
I would have no need to challenge and push you
to give more of your time to feed the hungry, to visit the sick, to be kind to the stranger,
because we would all be too busy sharing the story of how much God has done for us
and eagerly doing the same for each other.
We would automatically give our first fruits, our ten percent,
to benefit our communities, to help the poor, to support the needy,
because when we are given so much the only thing we can do is to share with others.
It’s human nature.
And you wouldn’t have any need of a reminder - which would leave me and the rest of the clergy without a job.
As someone very wisely said: there’s no need for clergy in the Kingdom of God.
The problem is that we are not there yet.
The problem is that in our brokenness we are blind to the gift of grace.
We only see sporadic glimpses of light, and we quickly fall back into the darkness where we forget for long stretches of time what grace is.
It is so very hard for us to remember that God loves us
that we need to constantly remind each other in word and deed - that’s how I got the job!
It is so very hard to give our heart to God totally and completely
that we forget to trust that the One who has given us everything
will continue to take care of us for all eternity.
It is so very hard for us to remember that God gave us eternal life
that every so often we forget that death is only a transition.
So we become unhealthily attached to our possessions,
desperate when one of us dies,
and unable to love and to be truly present to one another in our moments of need.
A couple of years ago, Bishop Burrill was asked
to describe the essence of the Christian faith in seven words.
This is what he said: GOD IS LOVE. LIVE THANKFULLY WITH HOPE.
My brothers and sisters, let us graft these words in our hearts
and keep repeating them to each other like a mantra.
God is love. God has mercy. God forgives. We are all sinners.
Yet we live in a grace-filled world.
Let us live lives of gratitude for the undeserved gift of God’s love,
and give a little bit back, out of all that we have received,
to those among us who need it the most
as we await the coming of Christ,
when the dream of God will be realized for all Creation
and there will be no need for pledge campaigns because
there will be plenty for everyone
and the lost will be found
and all clergy will have to go on mandatory retirement!
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment