Trinity
11 – August 6/7th, 2016 – Luke 18:9-14
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 +
“I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the
other.”
Justified. That's going to be the theme, the key idea for the next
few weeks here. The last month or so had plenty of heavy,
soul-searching lessons, where we pondered in depth and detail our own
sin, pondered the ways Satan attacks us – but now we're going to
focus in on being justified. It is a big, important word in
theology. To be justified is to be made, to be declared, to be
proven right, just, and good. And so the question before us this
day, my dear friends, is how are you, how is a Christian to be
justified, how are we shown and made to be righteous and just? Let
us consider our parable, a familiar one – the Pharisee and the Tax
Collector.
“He
also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they
were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”
Now, there should be a big warning sign here going off in your head
– a warning from Catechism lesson number 1. What is the first
commandment? You shall have no other gods before Me. What does this
mean? We should fear, love, and... trust in God above all things.
Did you catch it? Some who... trusted in themselves. Trusted in
themselves that they were righteous, that they were good enough
already. Where's God in that equation? Where's God in that thought
process? He's not there. I'm a good human being, see how great I
am, and I'm certainly better than that fellow over there. How am I
to be justified – why would I need that – I'm already great as
is! You see, dear friends, when we get texts in the Church that are
heavy with the law, that show us our sin, the point is to remind us
of our need for God, our need for a Savior. It is to teach us
humility so that we don't run around like a jerk all full of
contempt, so that we don't think we are all that and a bag of chips.
Because that's a trap we all can fall into. It's easy to be arrogant
and cocky and dismissive of others. And so Jesus tells this parable.
“Two
men went into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. 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. 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.'”
And here's where we have a hard time hearing this parable. We
associate the Pharisees with villains. We think of the Pharisees as
“bad guys” - when in reality, they aren't – not from an earthly
point of view. Listen to what the Pharisee says he does – and
there's no reason to think he's lying – He fasts, so he's devout in
his personal devotion. He gives tithes of all that he gets –
nothing really bad about that. I mean – basically, think of it
this way. Would I be happy, in theory, if you read your bible every
day, did daily devotions, and put in 10 percent of your income into
the offering plate? Yeah. The Pharisee is a swell guy – he looks
to be the type of guy you'd want your son to grow up into, the sort
of guy you'd want your daughter to get married to. And as for the
tax collector – well, we tend not to like the IRS that much, but we
don't generally think of IRS agents as vile, corrupt, and evil. So
we don't get the contrast being set up in the parable. So if you
will, let me try to modernize it.
One
Saturday/Sunday two folks walked into Trinity here. One was a life
long member, born and raised a Lutheran, a fellow who made good on
his God given talents – has a good job, shows up to Church,
regularly helps out – all his ducks are in a row. Shakes
everyone's hand before service because, well, we're all glad to see
him. And then, surprise of surprise, in walks a junkie – and not
one of our own who has fallen into trouble. I mean a miscreatant –
dishevelved,dirty, maybe even still high. The sort you sort of lean
away from. And the good old Lutheran boy thinks, “God, I thank you
that I'm not messed up like him. I've heard the stories about him,
and I'm so glad I've never done anything that dumb.” Meanwhile –
the pond scum fellow just sits off by himself, head in his hands just
thinking, “God forgive me, God help me.”
Do
you get that distinction, that contrast? For the folks that were
listening to Jesus, they would want to like the Pharisee, and they
would instinctively not like, not trust the tax collector. The
Pharisee is the good guy, the Tax collector is the bad guy, and yet,
Jesus says of the tax collector, “I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other.”
Now hear this rightly – I'm not saying that I want you to stop
tithing and start shooting heroin. Not the point. The Pharisee, the
good old Lutheran, had by all accounts what we would deem a better
life. I'm sure it was more enjoyable, more virtuous. Easier, even.
Being in the gutter stinks. I hope and pray that you all stay away
from gross and vile sin, from heartache and pain this week in your
life out there. But here's the thing – they are in the temple, and
in the parable, it was the tax collector who actually understood what
the point of the Temple was. The Temple was not the place you went
to primp and preen before God and the church folks and show everyone
how awesome you are, how much of a good boy you've been. Going to
church isn't like visiting Santa at the mall and sitting on his lap
and telling him what a good boy you've been so give me a new bicycle.
Going to Church isn't the time you get to hold social court and get
reaffirmed in how wonderful you are by people whose lives are just as
prim and proper as yours. This is a forgiveness place for sinners,
this is a mercy house for the messed up. And that, is what you need.
You
see, God knows you too well. While we all tend to strive to put on
the brave face in front of other people – while we all will say as
a matter of course, “Oh, I'm fine” - God knows. He knows what's
been going on – the troubles at home that you don't tell other
folks, the struggles at work. He knows your frustrations. He knows
the thoughts that have been flying through your head that you are far
too ashamed to mention to anyone. And He knows them – even when
you want to saunter around and act as though everything in your life
is just perfect and wonderful... even when you've lied to yourself so
much that you actually have conned yourself into thinking that
everything is fine. He knows what's really going on, and so God has
established this place to be a house of mercy and forgiveness for
you. A place where you don't have to pretend, a place where you can
be honest and simply say, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
And
He will be. That's the point. “I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified.”
You see, this is how it works. You don't have to prove anything to
God. Being in the Church isn't like going to the fair where you have
to be so tall before you can ride the rides. I'm not standing by the
door before service saying, “You must be this holy before you can
come in here.” Because before God, in terms of how you relate to
God, it's not about your works, not about what you've done or have
left undone. We confess that's all a mess. No, your relationship
with God is this: He is the One who justifies you. God almighty sees
you, battered and bruised and broken – sees even those things that
you have hidden so well from everyone else – and there is no
revulsion, no disdain, no contempt from Him. Rather simple and pure
and unadulterated love. Love that drives God to care for you, to
take your sin away from you. Seeing your sin, Christ Jesus says,
“There's no way I'm going to let that be the story, let that be the
tale of your life” - and so He takes your sin upon Himself, and
suffers and dies upon the Cross, He rises from the dead – and all
for you. And He takes water and attaches His Word to it and washes
you with it and claims you as His own. He takes bread and wine and
by His Word gives His Body and Blood to you with it – all so that
you are forgiven, so that you know it, so that you realize that all
this junk in your life – it isn't your junk anymore. It's Christ's
junk, and He crucified it for you – and you, now, in the sight of
God, are righteous and just and holy and perfect and lovely and
wonderful. Because Jesus says so. He shows mercy. You are
justified.
Our
sinful nature fights against this, though. Since our youth we've
become accustomed to telling tales, to putting our own spin on
things, to try to explain things away. We want to tell our own story
of justification. How many of you got in trouble recently, got
caught doing something you shouldn't, and then tried to talk your way
out of it? “Well, you see, I was going to do this, but then
dut-da-dut-da-duh, and then blah-blah-blah, so I just had to
yaddy-yaddy-ya.” You know what that is? That's telling a story to
justify myself, telling a story to say that what I did is actually
fine and understandable and it's not that bad. That's my story, and
I'm sticking to it! Or maybe it's someone else's fault? Or maybe at
least we aren't as bad at that other person? And we dig ourselves
deeper and deeper. The simple fact is, when we drop the ball, we
drop the ball. And the kicker is, we get tempted to try to fast talk
God! But this is where God steps in, and He says, “You don't need
to try to tell Me any tales – I know what happened. I'll fix it,
I'll make things right, and I forgive you.” God in His mercy cuts
all that self-justification talk off. He doesn't even want you to
think about justifying yourself – He wants to be both the One who
is Just and the One who justifies you. Because He wants to exalt you
– He wants to raise you up from the dead and give you everlasting
life as His own sons and daughters – and it doesn't get more
exalted than that.
So
let God be God. Let Him be the One who justifies you, who forgives
you. And never be afraid to seek His mercy, never be afraid to
confess your sin. You don't need to explain anything away – Jesus
has already died for you. Rather, be on guard against your own
pride, your own ego that you try to pull you away from God and His
mercy. Because when it comes to your relationship with God – it's
not about what you do for Him – it is all about what He has done
for you – Christ Jesus has forgiven you and given you His own
eternal life, and nothing tops that. Now, let's have the Supper and
go home justified. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Spirit +
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