Year C Proper 25 18 Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:

Jesus begins with a Pharisee.

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.

You hear those words and you’ve got to be thinking, “What an ego maniacal jerk.” And we naturally assume that that’s exactly what Jesus’ listeners are thinking. But we are at a disadvantage in that we are not first century Jews.

Surprising as it is to us, our immediate reaction to the Pharisee would not have been shared by the listeners of Jesus day. They were, by and large, people like the Pharisee, righteous folks who attended synagogue regularly and kept the Law. Maybe they didn’t go to the extremes of this particular individual, but they might well have admired him for his devotion.

By the standards of his time and within his society, the Pharisee is a good and dedicated person, one who even goes beyond the Mosaic Law in doing what is right, and while to us his prayer may sound exceedingly self-righteous, it actually follows a formulaic for certain prayers in the Jewish tradition.

There is a Jewish prayer book which is called the Siddur. Modern day Judaism comes in three varieties, reform, conservative, and orthodox. In Jesus’ day there was only one form, Orthodox, and the Siddur contained then, as it does now, morning prayers to be recited by devout Jewish men at the moment of rising from sleep. Women had their own separate traditions.

So, an Orthodo0x Jewish man’s morning prayers, then and now, include such sentences as, Praised are You, O' Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has Not made me a goy (a derogatory term for a non-Jewish person). Praised are You, O' Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has Not made me a slave. Praised are You, O' Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has Not made me a woman. Yup! They really do say that last one.

Suddenly we realize that there isn’t anything really wrong in what the Pharisee in today’s parable is saying to God, and while we perceive his attitude to be objectionable, Jesus’ listeners would not have had the same reaction.

As he did in Jesus’ time, the Pharisee would fit in nicely with good people today. He is devout, upstanding in the community, probably financially secure, and definitely self-reliant. He is the sort of person Jesus’ listeners then and we today would want to know, would invite to our homes, and would appreciate having for a friend. In short, he is a person very much like us.

Jesus then moves on to the tax collector. 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!'

Jesus’ listeners would have felt that the tax collector certainly did need God’s mercy, because in their eyes he was most definitely a sinner. This is a man with a lot going against him. He is despised and rejected because his profession forces him to collaborate with the Roman authorities in “oppressing” the Jewish people. He is in a totally isolated position, seen by his fellow Jews as a reprehensible traitor.

We might suspect the man suffers from a very poor self-image, but this isn’t what Jesus is saying. The tax collector recognizes the reality of his situation, is conscious of himself primarily as separated from his own people or community, from God, and from people like the Pharisee, and what he is praying contains an accurate assessment of his position

For the good people, the Pharisees, finding such a person in the synagogue would be like us finding ourselves in church with a known criminal, a traitor to our society and our way of life. We would tend to move away from such a person, trying not to pay attention to them at all, except, perhaps, to whisper among ourselves. “What is that person doing here?” We wouldn’t want to be in any way associated with them.

Jesus is addressing Jews who would either fit right in with the Pharisee or who would like to fit right in with him. He is speaking to the “good people” the ones who routinely reject tax collectors from their midst. Jesus is speaking to people like us, who want to believe we are the “good people” and who want to be among the blessed. We are the people who may do our best to uphold the rights of the disenfranchised, but who nonetheless wouldn’t really want to invite them to a family gathering or social event.

Jesus listeners would have been unprepared for what He says next, but His parables were always meant to shock.

I tell you, this tax collector 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 sort of people are acceptable to God? The example Jesus chooses for us is the tax collector. Were Jesus to tell us this parable He might choose as an example the company accountant who cooks the books and absconds with the pension fund, ruining the lives of employees, their families, and the business itself. Then, in a moment of self-revelation seeing what their greed has done to others, and sorry for their deeds, they turn themselves in – throwing themselves on the mercy of the court, of the judge, and, hopefully, on the mercy of God. This person is acceptable to God.

Jesus chose the Pharisee as the other person in His parable because He wanted to make the point for His listeners then, and for us now, that we aren’t as good or as kind or as holy as we’d like to think we are. The Pharisee is accepted by society, even respected, possibly revered by those around him, and while is basks in this adoration, he is, as we sometimes say, full of himself, but he has no real relationship with God.

The tax collector has no redeeming qualities according to the societal standards of his day – outside of his immediate family, if he has one, he is accepted by no one. He is roundly despised by the society in which he lives, but he knows who and what he is. He has what the Pharisee lacks, self-knowledge. Of the two men, only he has a true relationship with God.

How can we begin to see and accept who we truly are and to strengthen and deepen our relationship with God? We need only look at the Pharisee. How willing are we to suffer humiliation that we might grow in humility? How self-absorbed and self-reliant are we, and conversely how much do we share? How willing are we listen rather than talk? Are we filled with our own thoughts, plans, and ideas, our personal standards and expectations, or have we created an interior silence that allows room for God?

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!'

Jesus said, 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.

There is a Christian prayer, simple and deep, that reflects the humility of the tax collector. It goes like this.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Amen.