Year C

Luke 18:9-14

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Praying Before God

Jesus tells another story to the crowd today about two people praying in the temple. The story was told to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” One was a Pharisee. He would have been a man passionately in love with his country, his people, and his faith. His strict adherence to religious law was meant to be an example to others and a beacon of hope for those less fortunate. As a prosperous businessman, he would have sought justice for the downtrodden and equality between the different classes. People respected the Pharisees, not because they feared them, but because they knew they cared deeply for Israel, for her traditions, her welfare, and her future.

But as sometimes happens with good people, some of the Pharisees began to believe that they were good. The respect they enjoyed became familiar and anticipated. Even their faithfulness to the Law became artificial, so that instead of worshipping God, they were, without knowing it, worshiping themselves worshiping God. The humility went out of their faith and was replaced by pride and contempt. The Pharisee today saw his station before God to be a result of his own actions. His prayer is about what he is doing.

In contrast, the tax collector, a Jew himself, was squeezing revenues out of his fellow citizens so that a foreign power, the Romans, could continue to occupy their land. He was also, as common practice, dipping into these revenues, lining his pockets while his countrymen scraped and saved up their last shekel. This was a man capable of betraying a friend or keeping two ledgers if it meant a profit. He is ashamed of his actions. His prayer is about what he has done. Both men are equally “shamed” before God. The shame of both men is a result of their sin.

In the beautiful, romantic, walled town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany, there is a strange museum called Kriminalmuseum. There you can find on display a number of “shame masks” used mostly by Austrians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Constructed out of metal and locked on the offender’s head, the masks were to be worn in public as punishment for a certain length of time. One, for example was shaped like a pig’s snout. It was worn by someone being punished for acting like a pig. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, if they lived during that time, may have been asked to wear one of those masks over their heads.

Yet, the original listeners to this parable would have been surprised that a well-intentioned and respected Pharisee was portrayed so negatively. He would have been part of the elite and he sounds pretty impressive. He fasts twice a week; he gives 10 percent on all his income. Excellent! He sounds as if he is a commendable citizen. On the other hand, it would not have surprised the listeners if the tax collector who was well paid by the Romans was portrayed as someone who needed to repent. One of them turns prayer into a performance; the other turns prayer into a deep conversation with God. One is completely lacking self-awareness and doesn’t realize the deep sin of pride in the presence of God; the other is completely self-aware and pours out his complexity to God. And we hear Jesus say that one is justified and one is not. The tax-collector, not the Pharisee, went home right with God.

And why should this be so surprising? Throughout the long and sordid history of God’s people, divine mercy was always given to those who were ready to admit their true sinful situation in the sight of God. Every one of the lessons today witness to God’s divine mercy and deliverance: in the Psalm we hear of God’s forgiveness of the nation’s sins, the prophet Joel’s vision of God pouring out God’s spirit on the people describes an act of deliverance. The author of 2 Timothy believed to be Paul, is at the end of his earthly life. He feels contentment at having fought the good fight. He is confident that God will vindicate him for his life of sacrifice and allow him to enter God’s heavenly kingdom.

In the parable today can be seen how broad and deep God’s message of mercy and deliverance is. The tax collector recognizes his sinfulness and that his life falls short of what it might be which is remarkable because those in power, rarely see so clearly what is going on. Nevertheless, the power of God’s forgiveness and mercy is at work even in this seemingly hopeless case. If even the tax collectors can be delivered, begin to work for justice, and follow Jesus then, perhaps it is not too late for the Pharisee or for you or me.

Like the tax collector we are to be humble and realize our need to repent and put our trust in God’s mercy. The great lesson of this parable is the necessity of humility before God. Indeed the whole message of the Christian faith is that in Jesus Christ God has visited the humble. In Jesus, God has descended in person to those who dare not raise their eyes to heaven, who recognize the hopelessness of human sin, who can do no more than cry to God for mercy from the depths of their hearts. Jesus challenges us to avoid trusting in our own efforts at fulfilling the law because when we trust in ourselves, we do not recognize our need of God, rather, we are to humble ourselves before a merciful, loving and saving God.   

Yet, as Yale professor emeritus William Muelh observed about this parable and preached in a sermon in 1994, the tax collector’s abject, bowed-head posture was just the first step in the pilgrimage of faith. Getting stuck in the “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner,” doesn’t lead to fighting the good fight, keeping the faith, and finishing the race. We are delivered to do something. By the grace of God, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to move beyond the prayer of confession to the life of action. Paul wanted Timothy to understand, that it was God’s faithful presence in his life that enabled him to do the work of an evangelist, to carry out his ministry fully. It wasn’t on his own strength “but the Lord stood by him and gave him strength, so that the message might be fully proclaimed.” Paul’s words and life are meant to encourage Timothy and others to live life in humility as an offering to the Lord. Not only emulating Paul but also succeeding him in remaining committed to the gospel.

Jesus says “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” This parable tells us about the God who humbled God self and saves though self-sacrifice. Our being justified before God is not obtained by doing things. Our being justified comes through God reaching out in mercy to helpless sinners. Yet, balance is the key. We cannot trust in our ability to fulfill the law to save us, yet we do not abandon the law. We humble ourselves before a merciful God and yet are confident in the Lord’s promises. Whether Pharisee or tax collector, all find welcome in God’s temple.