Readings
Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22
Psalm 84:1-6
2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Luke 18:9-14
One of the great difficulties of this time of the year, in terms of what we read in the Gospels, is that many of the passages we hear involve what are commonly called the “hard sayings” of Jesus; meaning that if we are paying attention to what Jesus is saying, it often leaves us feeling confused or uncomfortable and in some cases desirous of ignoring the teaching altogether.
Today is no exception. As we just heard, Jesus offers us a comparison and contrast between what a person who is “justified” before God looks like and one that is not. On the one hand we have a Pharisee who meets all the religious requirements of his day. He is a cultural model of righteous living. He fasts, he tithes, and presumably from his earlier boast he commits no crimes, is sexually and emotionally faithful to his spouse, and does not use his position to extort money from others. On the surface, he is confirmed to be a model citizen and a righteous individual.
In contrast we have a tax collector, a toady of the imperial government and a person presumed to be profiting off the impoverishment of others. This is a man that most people would have seen as a person of questionable morals and a collaborator with the enemy. This is a man who is the antithesis of a model citizen and a righteous individual.
The pinch, however, comes in the behavior of the two men. We hear of the righteousness of the first because, as an act of thanksgiving, he brags to God about all his “goodness.” In contrast, it appears that the truth of who the tax collector is is confirmed with his simple utterance of “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
But, in the end, despite the radical differences of the two men, and the notorious image of the tax collector, Jesus says that it is the tax collector who goes home in a right relationship with God rather than the Pharisee, because those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
On the surface this seems to be a simple lesson in religious humility. It appears to be about the religious and moral arrogance of the Pharisee and the humble acknowledgment by the tax collector of his sinful nature. And because of that it would be easy for us to assume that Jesus is warning us to avoid religious and moral arrogance at all costs; that, perhaps, Jesus is calling us specifically to not presume the superiority of our position as people of faith.
In part, I believe that to be true. We need to be mindful of our sense of religious superiority. We need not look very far in our own history and behavior as Episcopalians to see ways in which we have presumed to have the truth while others do not. We have not been immune to the presumption of ourselves as superior in relation to Roman Catholics or evangelical protestants. How many of us have been proud to say that unlike the fundamentalists of our day we have embraced an intellectual and enlightened faith? How often have we claimed the superiority of our middle way between Catholicism and Protestantism in comparison to other Christians? And in regard to questions of social justice, how easy is it for us to look down upon those who disagree with us and claim the high theological and moral ground? We would do well to remember that all of us sin. We would do well to recognize the risks of arrogance and presumption when we feel superior in such ways.
But I would invite you to recognize that Jesus is not simply talking about what we would term religious or moral arrogance. I believe that he is talking about all of the arrogances we express today.
You see, in the time of Jesus there was no separation between what we might call religious, social, political, or cultural realities. All of them were seen as a whole. In the end the behaviors you exhibited in one area affected all the others. I believe that still to be true today. And while we could have a whole conversation about the interconnectedness of all those realities, the point I want to make this morning is that Jesus isn’t simply talking about religious arrogance or pietistic presumption.
No, if we are to be honest with ourselves, this Gospel passage calls us to wrestle with all the ways we get caught up in behaviors that set us apart from others and all the ways in which we presume to be better than others.
We live in a world that functions on the stratification of society. We live in an economy that presumes that those who have more are superior to those who do not; that people who are wealthier than others must have worked harder and are more deserving. We live in a social system that presumes that social sins such as poverty, drug or alcohol addiction, lack of education, and cultural impoverishment are signs of inferiority.
The realities of class prejudice are as true in our country as in any society that functions on a caste system. We regularly value respectability above all else because we presume to have nothing in common with those who do not match our social, economic, and cultural norms. We seek to isolate ourselves from those who differ from us; perhaps not quite as consciously or arrogantly as the Pharisee in today’s parable. No, our presumptions are quieter and more subtle, often invisible to ourselves if we are not paying attention.
Just look around this room. Where are the tax collectors of our day? Why are they not here? Have we like many faith communities unintentionally become a gathering of Pharisees? Have we unwittingly kept those who make us uncomfortable out? Have we unconsciously presumed too much of ourselves even while we seek to do all that is required of us? We would do well to ask these questions and to give ourselves an honest reply.
It is to such realities that Jesus speaks. We are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons. And as servants we are called to challenge the cultural, economic, and social assumptions that influence us on a daily basis. To not do so is to risk making our relationship to God a delusion of righteousness.
But in the alternative is a ray of hope. When we humble ourselves; when we acknowledge that we are no better or different than others; when we acknowledge all the ways in which we have missed the mark, then we are free to experience and encounter the God of our salvation. We are free to see the face of Christ in those who surround us, both the Pharisee and the tax collector. We are justified before the Lord and in being so we feel the love and the grace of God.
May we be brave enough to be a people who humble themselves in such ways. May we set aside our presumptions and our prejudices. May we seek to respect the dignity of every human being. And may we love one another as God loves us.