Trinity 11 – Luke 18 – August
31st, 2014
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit +
Today we tend to have a false, shallow understanding of
sin. A simplistic view. Today, when we think of sin, we tend to think
first and foremost of big, flashy sins that are open and obvious to
everyone. We think of the vices as being
the big, dangerous sins. Murder. Adultery.
Theft. The big, obvious things,
the things that would make the cops come and arrest you. And over and against vice, we will pit virtue
– being kind, being generous, so on and so forth – keep your nose clean. And we treat the main question as to whether
or not you will follow virtue or vice – there’s the distinction, that’s what
defines you. Virtue or vice, good or
bad, naughty or nice. The only thing is,
that’s not the way the Scriptures really speak of sin. Sin is something much more pervasive,
something much more dangerous, something mere human virtue is powerless
against. And to illustrate this point,
Christ Jesus our Lord tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector,
which we will consider today.
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” And here is the occasion for the parable. Jesus sees the self-righteous treat others
with contempt. Jesus sees those who
follow virtue, who are virtuous, show scorn upon those less virtuous than
themselves, than those who follow the “vices”.
Already the comparison game begins, already the I’m better than him game
is afoot – and the worst, the dangerous part is, they were probably right. From an worldly perspective, on the scale of
virtue and vice, they probably were better than the folks upon whom they had
contempt. But does that really
matter? Is that really important? Let us listen to Jesus.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other
a tax collector.” This is a
fantastic set up by Jesus. The two men
in question in this parable – they are both in the temple. They both claim to know God, to trust and
worship Him. They are both in temple,
they are both praying, they both are paying some attention to the Word of
God. But the Pharisee and the tax
collector had a different way of reading, a different goal in hearing the Word
and approaching God. “The Pharisee, standing by
himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all
that I get.’” There stands the
Pharisee. The paragon of Virtue. And if we are to understand this parable, we
must accept and believe this Pharisee at face value. He IS a really good guy. And the list of bad,
naughty things that he doesn’t engage in – it’s good not to engage in
those. Extortion is bad – I’m from Chicago, my grandpa lived in Calumet City 2 miles from where Al Capone set
up his suburbian shop – extortion is bad.
Being unjust is bad. Giving
people the shaft, cheating them, treating them poorly – that’s bad. Having affairs, sleeping around. That’s bad, that’s the path of heartbreak and
nasty disease. This Pharisee has read
the Scriptures and by golly he has paid attention to the warnings and he has
strived to pay heed! And more than that
– he is a good fellow. He is a
practioner of virtue. He fasts twice a
week – that was the good, pious custom.
Fast on Monday and Thursday, if you want to be really, really good. And he did.
And tithes – oh, never let it be said that a pastor ever speaks against
tithing. And he tithes – 10%, off the
top, before taxes, before anything else.
With no one checking up on him, without someone looking at his books and
saying, “You made this much and you only gave that, you cheapskate?” Nope, a virtuous man. Everything he says is true… learned even from
the Good Book itself.
But, he missed the point.
All the vices he avoided, all the virtues he embodied, those are…
nice. They are taught in the
Scriptures. But they aren’t the main
point. For that, one needs hear the tax
collector. “But the tax collector, standing
far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast,
saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the
other.” Where are these guys
praying again? It’s not just that two
men were standing the park one day and decided to pray. It’s not that there was some sort of pray-off
challenge thrown down on the school yard or something like that. They are in the temple. The Temple. What is the Temple?
It is the place where the sacrifices to atone for sin took place. The whole center of Jewish worship was always
the tabernacle and then the Temple,
the Ark of the Covenant, the Altar. Yom
Kippur – the day of atonement. Passover
– where by the blood of the Lamb God makes death pass us over and instead gives
us life, even though we deserve death.
While the Scriptures do tell us, do teach us about virtue and vice, give
us examples enough, that isn’t their point.
The point is this – God is merciful to sinners, sinners like this tax
collector.
You know, we don’t know anything about the open, outward,
public life of this tax collector. In
general, tax collectors were thought to be lousy and were hated. This one – we don’t know. Maybe he was harsh, maybe he was kind. Maybe he tithed or even gave more than the
Pharisee. Mayhaps he was faithful to his
wife, kind to the neighborhood children.
Or maybe not. We don’t know. And frankly, for the point Jesus wants to
make, we don’t need to know. The point
is not about how openly and outwardly virtuous a person is, it’s not about who
looks good and who looks bad. Jesus is
not Santa Claus – the book of Life doesn’t separate you out into naughty and
nice. No, the reality that this tax
collector sees first is that he is a sinner.
Period. He’s not going to hide
behind his virtue. He’s not going to
claim that he’s not like other men. No,
he is a sinner, and even his righteous deeds are but as filthy rags, nothing
where with to impress God almighty. And
so how does this wretch, this man who sees his sin dare to come to the Temple? Because the Scripture teach that God is
merciful, and he believes.
Sin isn’t just doing bad stuff. Sin is not just vice. Sin is a state of rebellion against God, that
constant pull away from Him that we all experience. It isn’t just that there are a few, select
deeds that are “bad” and that if we do those then we are sinners. No, we are sinful, everything is tinged and
tainted with sin, in all that we do we are sinners. And part of that sin is that we like to set
up hedges against God, we like to hide behind our “virtue” or the fact that we
are better than others. We will even
create new virtues, new vices, to show how good we are. “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t dance –
these are the good Christian things. And
if you’re a good Christian, why, of course, you’ll do X, Y, and Z – you’ll vote
for this party and take that ice bucket challenge but only give money to this
charity and not that one… and so on and so forth. And, of course, remember, if you give more
money here, surely God will bless you financially in your life, so open up the
check books more” – my smile isn’t big enough to say that line properly.
No. We know all that
is false. We know that is bunk and
coarse. We’re good little Lutherans –
we’ve been trained to bow our heads when we pray, just like the tax
collector. But some of that is the
problem too. We can think that we are
good little Lutherans – we know, they don’t, see how much better we are. Always, the sinful flesh loves to separate,
loves to pull itself out of the writhing mass of humanity and say, “See, I am
better, I am wiser, I know more than they do!”
And we must fight against that, dear friends. We aren’t better than anyone. Our confession from the beginning of service
rings true – I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and
iniquities with which I have ever – EVER – that is ALWAYS, Constantly… ever offended
You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. Deserved.
Temporal punishment. God – my
week could be ten times worse than it was, and I’d have no ground to
complain. Frankly, I deserve hell. Eternal punishment, and if I’m not getting
that, I’ve go no room to complain.
And yet, how quickly do we wander off from that confession? How quickly do we stop thinking like
that? How often in the course of the
week do we lament how things aren’t far, or how so-and-so just isn’t pulling
her weight and if only he did things better like me? Does it even have to wait for the service to
be over, or have you had thoughts like that since confession this morning? Happens to me often enough. And Luther sums this all up as temptation – Lead us not into temptation. What does this mean? God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard
and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive
us or mislead us into… into what? False belief, despair, and other great shame
and vice. The greatest shame, the
greatest vice isn’t anything anyone can see.
It is false belief, the worship of yourself, self idolatry, the idea
that you bring anything to the table, anything to your relationship with God,
the idea that God owes you because you are better than your neighbor. And this is something the world around us
constantly hammers us with, constantly butters us up with, and we listen.
No, you are a sinner.
Plain and simple. Sinful, through
and through. This is the truth, a truth
that if it were all we saw, we would be left in utter despair. That’s why the world strives so hard to
pretend their sin doesn’t exist, or that we are better “them”. If you only see your sin, you despair, so the
nice sounding lies continue. But there
is a greater truth, a more wondrous truth.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. For God shows His love for us in this, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Though you were dead in your trespasses, it is by grace you have been
saved through faith, a gift, freely given, apart from your works. Your works add nothing to it. Because it is upon the Cross where Christ
Jesus, God Himself, wins you forgiveness.
There is the true Temple,
the True Altar, the True Sacrifice where God is merciful to you, the sinner. Where God takes your sin away and blots it
out, where God pours upon you life and forgiveness as blood and water flow from
His pierced side – water that flows to this font today, blood shed for you for
the remission of your sins and placed upon your lips in His Supper today. This is the great truth – the tax collector
prayed wisely – God is merciful to sinners.
What defines you before God, dear friends, is not a list of
your virtues and vices. God doesn’t need
your virtuous living – you neighbor benefits from it, but before God, it
accounts for nothing. No, before Him you
remain this – a sinner, a sinner who is covered by the blood of Christ and
redeemed by Him, one of His holy saints.
Be on guard against any thought, any false pride that would make you
define yourself or think of yourself differently. Rather – cling to Christ Jesus, for He is
faithful and just to cleanse you from all your iniquity. This is truth. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.