Trinity XI
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable unto thee, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
From the Gospel: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.” (Luke 18:10)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
We know Abraham Lincoln as an icon — a stern marble colossus looking out from his memorial to our nation’s capital.
The living Abraham Lincoln was very different from that stone figure; he was a man who loved to tell stories and jokes.
Storytelling was perhaps his finest talent.
Friends and acquaintances of Lincoln recall how he would often say, “That reminds me of a story,” and launch into a humorous or revealing anecdote.
As he started talking, his sad features disappeared and his face lit up, and when he laughed, it was like a horse’s neigh, and he would lift his knee and slap his thigh in hilarity.
He was FUN to be around.
He could tell stories about anything, and he had a particular knack for finding just the right anecdote to illustrate his point.
In a famous incident, near the end of the Civil War, General William Tecumseh Sherman asked Lincoln what should be done with Confederate leaders such as the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, who was on the run.
The Army needed to know whether or not to pursue and capture Davis.
Lincoln did not want them to do so, yet he could not say so publicly.
So, Lincoln turned to Sherman and said, “That reminds me of story”, and related a tale about a man who had taken a pledge against drinking.
The man, said Lincoln, was offered an alcoholic drink at a friend’s house.
The man declined, on account of his pledge, so his friend offered him lemonade instead.
Then the host mentioned that the lemonade would be a bit more palatable if he were to pour some brandy in it.
The man said that if his host were to do that unbeknownst to him, then … he could not object.
Sherman immediately grasped the meaning of Lincoln’s story—that the army was to let Jefferson Davis escape, but not to tell Lincoln about it.
I think that almost everything we just heard about Mr. Lincoln could be said of Jesus.
We tend to picture him as an agonized figure hanging on a cross.
The living Jesus was very different, of course.
He must have been fun to be around.
The “sinners” who flocked to hear him and eat with him were surely attracted by his personality.
Above all, they were attracted to his ability to tell a story, always a story with a point to be sure, but a story well told, often with more than a bit of humor.
Our parable for today certainly falls into that category.
It is a wonderfully told story, one with a very serious point, but also one with wry humor.
The image of the pompous Pharisee had to make the hearers laugh or at least smile.
We can see him standing in the temple, dressed in his finest for all to see, with his nose in the air so that he could look down on the rest of humanity.
He prayed, doubtless in a very loud voice, and what a prayer it was!
“God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” (Luke 18:11-12)
How could you more perfectly capture the public’s perception of the attitude of the Pharisees?
I have no doubt Jesus’ listeners had great enjoyment at the Pharisee’s expense.
Of course, this bit of humor had a very real point.
The Pharisees really did think of themselves as morally superior to other men, and indeed with some justification.
The fact the man addressed this bit of public bragging to God, supposedly thanking God for all the righteousness the man found in himself, either makes it even more absurd or perhaps more horrible.
The parable takes a more serious turn when the tax collector, the publican, is introduced.
We are told, “the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 18:13)
He obviously has a very different approach to God than the proud Pharisee; he understands himself to be a sinner in need of God’s mercy.
Asking for mercy is an admission of guilt, an acknowledgement of deserving punishment, but also a humble plea for forgiveness.
Implicit in asking for mercy is repentance, a heartfelt desire not to repeat the offence, and faith in the merciful nature of the judge.
Perhaps it is worth thinking about these two men’s self-assessments.
To be fair, the Pharisees were obsessively careful to observe even the finest points of the Law.
I think we can be very sure that everything the Pharisee said of himself was true.
He really was upright in his financial dealings; he was faithful to his wife.
He most surely fasted at least twice every week; he was scrupulous, down to the very last penny, in his tithing.
By the same token, the publican was most certainly a sinner.
The publicans were despised by their own people because they collected taxes for the hated Roman occupiers of their country.
Even more to the point, most of them collected more tax than was due, because they had to pay large bribes to get and to keep their jobs.
What other sins the man may have been guilty of, we do not know, but clearly, they weighed on his soul.
Yet strangely, Jesus says of these two men, “I tell you, this man [the publican] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
This seems paradoxical.
The Pharisee was, looking at his outward behavior, a superior person to the wretched tax collector.
Yet Jesus tells us the tax collector was “justified,” accounted by God as a righteous man, rather than the Pharisee.
This demands explanation.
The difference lies in their heart conditions, not their actions.
The Pharisee compares himself with other men’s outward behaviors and judges himself to be morally superior to them.
This being the case, he thinks he needs no repentance; he can just blissfully check in with God and offer God a quick “well done” then be on his way.
What he cannot see is that his self-assessment has led him into the deadliest sin of all: the sin of pride.
Pride is deadly because it blinds a man to his own need for mercy while making the failings of others a source of delicious pleasure for him, because they reinforce his sense of superiority.
The publican, on the other hand, does not compare himself with other men; he compares himself with the righteousness demanded by a holy God and quite rightly accounts himself as having missed the mark.
His prayer to God is heartfelt, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
So, each man received exactly what he asked for.
The publican asked for mercy; he receive mercy; his sins were forgiven, and he went down to his home a righteous man in God’s sight.
The Pharisee asked for nothing, in his pride not recognizing his needed God’s mercy; he got exactly what he asked for, nothing.
He was left with his self-delusion of righteousness with which God was not impressed.
He came in with his deadly sin of pride; he took it home with him.
“For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
This explains why we start each service of Holy Communion the with a powerful reminder of how God sees us:
“ALMIGHTY God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid; Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
God is not impressed by our outward behaviors; he sees and judges the “thoughts of our hearts.”
Then we are reminded of the awesome requirements of God’s holiness, “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: THOU shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
We know we have not loved God as we should, nor our neighbor as ourselves; we respond, as we must,
“Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.”
The good news of this parable is we receive what we ask for; if we ask for mercy with a penitent heart, we will receive mercy.
We will be justified, accounted by God as righteous, as being in a right relationship with Himself, which allows us to acceptably worship Him, and to receive the blessings He has summoned us here to give us.
In a few minutes we are going to say the General Confession.
ALMIGHTY God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men; We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This wonderful prayer contains all the elements of properly seeking God’s mercy.
It is a heartfelt admission of guilt.
It acknowledges we deserve punishment.
It sets forward our true repentance.
But above all, it gives us a reasonable basis to hope for mercy, “For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past.”
This prayer is not magic, of course.
God, unto whom all hearts are open, is not deceived.
If we ask for mercy without repentance, or without granting mercy to those who have harmed us, saying it will do us less than no good.
But if we pray that prayer with faith in God’s mercifulness, repentance for our sins, and with forgiveness for all those who have harmed us, we can be sure we will obtain mercy.
We will go down to our houses justified, made right with God, “for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Amen.
And now we ascribe, as is most justly due, unto Thee, O Lord, all might, majesty, power, and dominion, both now and forever. Amen.