Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
October 23, 2022
25 Proper C
On Thursday, I spent part of the morning with our parishioners
at Laurel Lake. We gather once a month for
Eucharist and conversation, and I always look forward to that time
together. As we chatted before the service,
I found myself especially grateful that we could gather. I remembered the two whole years we had been
unable to gather there, much longer than we were unable to gather here at
Christ Church. In a similar way, I find
myself still remembering the long months when we worshipped only on Zoom or
Facebook Live and could not gather here, and I continue to feel deep gratitude
on Sunday mornings when we gather, or when we gather for fellowship events like
our party Friday night or potluck theology coming up, or youth group, or pretty
much anything. As I have said before, I
hope I never take our ability to gather for granted again. God led us through a strange and lonely wilderness,
brought us back together again, and I am grateful beyond measure.
This morning we hear yet another peculiar parable from
Jesus. On the surface, the point seems
obvious. Be like the tax collector, not
like the Pharisee. Be humble, not haughty. Be authentic, not a hypocrite. Rely on God, not our own good works. If I thought that was the point of the
parable, we could just move on to the Nicene Creed. But rarely is Jesus interested in the
revelation of the obvious. So we will
need to dig a bit deeper this morning.
First, the Pharisee.
The portrayal of the Pharisees in the gospels demonstrates a first
century Christian bias rather than historical fact. Luke is less guilty of this than other gospels,
such as John, but he is still guilty.
When we read other first century sources about the Pharisees, we find
that the Pharisees were deeply faithful.
Their scrupulous keeping of the law was intended to make all of life
holy and pleasing to God, NOT because they were trying to earn anything, but
out of gratitude for all that God had done from them as a people. Kindness, hospitality to strangers, and care
for the poor and widows were deeply held values. Over and over again in the Hebrew scriptures,
we hear God referred to as the One who brought the people out of bondage in
Egypt and into the Promised Land. Over
and over again, the people try to live in response to the gracious and saving
work of God. Do they always
succeed? No. But they never give up.
So we have our Pharisee this morning who begins his prayer
with “God, I thank you…” We have no
reason to think that this is anything other than the honest expression of
gratitude that begins many Jewish prayers.
Maybe his gratitude that he is not like other people is a bit arrogant,
but he is genuinely grateful. His prayer
is really no different from “there but for the grace of God go I” when we see
someone who is down on their luck. Then
the Pharisee tells God what God probably already knows-that he fasts twice a
week and gives a tenth of all of his income.
The Pharisee goes well beyond what the law requires. Is the Pharisee boasting or is he grateful
that he is able to give and do more that the law requires?
Then we have our tax collector. Tax collectors were despised by the
people. The tax collectors collected the
taxes using whatever means necessary, and because there was no IRS to pay them
a salary, they collected more than was due and kept the difference for
themselves. Jesus rather liked tax
collectors, however, calling one, Matthew, to be a disciple, and dining with
others. The tax collector’s prayer
begins and ends with “God be merciful to me a sinner.” He asks for mercy, which he knows comes from
God. However, he does not offer to
repent much less find a new career path.
He simply recognizes that he is a sinner and asks for mercy.
After describing the prayer of the two men, Jesus says “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." What are we to make of
this? Is Jesus commending a life of
extortion so long as we know we need God’s mercy, while putting down the person
who was actually living a faithful life and acting out of gratitude, even if with
some measure of arrogance? In the
gratitude vs. humility contest, does gratitude lose? What are we to take from this parable?
Despite Jesus’ claim that the tax collector went home
justified and the Pharisee did not, I wonder whether this is a winner-take-all
game, where we have to choose between gratitude and humility, or whether there
is something to be commended in both of these people. The Pharisee is grateful to God that he is
able to keep the law and do even more.
He thanks God for that, so he knows that he is dependent on God for his
ability to live faithfully. The tax
collector knows he is a sinner and is dependent on God for mercy. Both men are aware of their dependence on
God.
Perhaps Jesus tells us that the tax collector goes home
having been justified by his time in the temple because the tax collector is
the one who needs justification. Perhaps
the Pharisee was already justified.
Perhaps prayer is the ultimate leveler and that is what Jesus means by
the exalted being humbled and the humble being exalted. The Pharisee and the tax collector are both
beloved of God, on whom they both know they are dependent. This is humbling to the Pharisee and exalts
the tax collector.
The reading from Sirach begins “Give to the Most High as he
has given to you, and as generously as you can afford.” The response to God’s generous
action in the life of the Pharisee, and hopefully the life of the tax
collector, and certainly in our own lives, is gratitude. The response to gratitude is generosity,
whether of our financial resources as with the Pharisee who gave more than the
law required, or with our time like the disciples who gave all of their time to
Jesus, or the generosity of our hearts, like the tax collector who knew he had
sinned. Whatever else Jesus might have
meant by this tricky little parable, I believe Jesus calls us to recognize our
dependence on God, which leads us to gratitude which leads us to mirror the
divine generosity with the whole of our lives.
Amen.
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