Have Mercy Luke 18: 9-14 October 27, 2013 Rev.

Deborah Dail Denbigh Presbyterian Church Luke 18: 9-14 He 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 look up 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. Sermon: Jesus was a great story teller. His stories (parables) intrigued the people who first heard them 2000 years ago. They intrigue us today. His stories also made people angry when Jesus first spoke them. And, they still make us angry today. Roberta Bondi, who is a professor at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, tells of teaching an adult Sunday School class at a local church where she was working part-time while she was in seminary. The text for that days Sunday school class was our parable for today. Bondi recalls that the class was a disaster and she ended up never wanting to work in a church again. I chuckled when I read that she assured her class that she hadnt made up this parable it was really from the Bible from which they had read it. Still, the class
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members were angry. What do you mean one went home justified and other did not? demanded someone. Didnt the Pharisee do all those good things? Are you telling us they dont count for anything with God? another challenged. And the tax collector, someone else added Did I hear you say that God doesnt judge sin? (Sin of Scorn by Roberta C. Bondi; prepared by Ted and Winnie Brock for Religion Online.) This reminds me of a similar story from my former church in Elkton, Virginia. I was told of a Sunday when a class was studying another parable the parable of the Prodigal Son. In it, a son messes up royally, spends all his inheritance and gets into all manner of trouble. Destitute, he returns home to his father who has been mourning for his lost son. The father welcomes him home with open arms, throws him a party and restores him to the family. A student in the Elkton Crusaders Sunday School Class proclaimed: The father was wrong. The teacher replied, Well, the father in the parable represents God. The student countered: I dont care. He was still wrong. You may feel that Jesus was wrong in his assessment of the two people praying at the temple. The Pharisee attended worship every week, he went to Bible study, he put 10 percent of his money in the offering plate each week, he managed to get his family to worship every week, he had excellent morals and family values. He worked hard and paid his own way. He served on committees and provided leadership for his people. He was well-studied in the scriptures and could quote chapter and verse when needed. He was hard-working, decent, moral and good. His prayer sounds legitimate: Thank you God that I am not like those who just show up at church for the big holidays and when they have a crisis. Thank you God that I am not like those who forget about making an offering when theyre away from church. Thank you God that I am not like those whose kids are at home in bed instead of beside
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them on the pew like mine were required to be. Thank you God that I am not like those who couldnt find Genesis in the Bible if they had to. Thank you God that I am not like those who are just pew sitters and never do anything else in the church. Thank you God that I am not like those who cant hold a job, dont make ends meet and depend on the government for a hand-out. The tax collector, on the other hand, was likely a corrupt businessman. He was nothing like the Pharisee. His prayer was simply a heartfelt Have mercy on me, a sinner. Some of us are even thinking at this moment, thank you God that I dont pray such lame prayers. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Give me a break. Even my prayers are better than that! However, Jesus says (and this is the part that makes us angry): the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. (Good News Bible) The tax collector went home justified before God. (NIV) The Message translation says: Jesus commented, This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, youre going to end up flat on your face . . . The tax collector went home having been made right with God. He was declared righteous by God. He was forgiven by God. You may have noticed on your bulletin that it is Reformation Sunday. This is the Sunday when we remember the Protestant Reformation. We mark the beginning of the Reformation as 1517 although the process of reformation had begun before this time. It was in 1517, however, that Martin Luther posted a list of 95 reasons he disagreed with the pope and the Catholic Church, of which he was a priest and monk, on a church door in Wittenburg, Germany. This public act became the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Central to Martin Luthers theology was this matter of how a person becomes righteous . . . how a person is made right with God . . .
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how a person is justified . . . how a person is saved from the bondage of sin. From Luthers reading of the Bible he concluded that we are made right with God through Jesus Christ. We are not made right with God by our good works. Our righteousness is a gift from God. Luther was especially drawn to Pauls writings in the New Testament including this passage from Ephesians: For it is by Gods grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but Gods gift, so that no one can boast about it. (Good News Bible) In our parable, the Pharisee boasted of his good works and scorned others who didnt keep pace with him. He believed that his own efforts made him righteous. The tax collector had nothing to boast about. He cried out for mercy. He was totally reliant on God. He went home justified. He went home righteous. OK, but might there be any other truths or perspectives to glean from this parable? I was intrigued by some of the comments made by Professor Bondi whom I referenced earlier. According to Bondi who reflects on the writing of a monk named Dorotheos, the Pharisee was doing the right thing when he thanked God for giving him the ability to do good deeds and behave in a manner that was in keeping with the law of God. According to Dorotheos, the Pharisee only did one thing wrong: he passed judgment on the whole person of the tax collector and with scorn dismissed him and his whole life as worthless. Bondi says: I suspect that if I can acknowledge and learn to thank God when I am able to do something good, I will not have to demonstrate my worth to myself by despising those whose lives look very different from mine. We live in a world of scorching, escalating, judgmental scorn our own and others that is grinding us all down to the bone. As Christians, how can we ever escape it? Allowing ourselves to experience gratitude to God for the good we can do may truly provide some healing for our scornful souls.
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It what ways are you and I scornful? On whom are we passing judgment? This has been a particularly scornful week for me personally. It has been a judgmental week. Scorching, escalating, judgmental scorn. Oh for healing of our scornful souls . . . for my soul. In the end, I appreciate most the perspective of David Lose on this parable. Lose warns us that this parable is deceptively simple and is a trap. The Pharisee is righteous according to the law. The problem with the Pharisees prayer is that it is about himself. He misses the point that God is the source of his blessings. He despises the people, like the tax collector, whom God loves. For this reason, he leaves the Temple as righteous according to the law as when he entered, but he is not justified; that is, he is not accounted and called righteous by God. For it would never occur to him to ask. (David Lose, workingpreacher.org, October 27, 2013) In contrast, Lose points out, the tax collector knows the one thing the Pharisee does not: his life is Gods his past, present and future entirely dependent on Gods grace and mercy. So, whats the trap? Well, we hear about the Pharisee and we focus on ourselves. We make it all about us. We hear about the tax collector and we decide to just always be focused on our sin and our sinful status. And we make it all about us. Lose says this: This parable and indeed the whole Reformation was and is an attempt to shift our attention from ourselves our piety or our passions, our faith or our failure, our glory or our shame to God, the God who delights in justifying the ungodly, welcoming the outcast, and healing all who are in need. So, perhaps the best way to (approach) this clever and dangerous parable is to keep all talk of the Pharisee and tax collector and Luther and ourselves and anyone and everyone else to an absolute minimum. Instead perhaps we should reserve most of our time,
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thought and words for God, the God who creates light from darkness, raises the dead to life, and pulls us all Pharisee and tax collectors, righteous and sinful, disciples and ne-er-do-wells alike into a realm of unimaginable and unexpected grace, mercy and joy. (David Lose, The Pharisee, the Tax Collector and the Reformation, workingpreacher.org)