Luke 18:9-14
I love this story that Jesus tells.
It is about a familiar theme that we find in Luke – a theme that is introduced in the Mary’s song:
“God will scatter the proud in the imagination of their conceit. He will cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly”
I love this story that Jesus tells.
It is about a familiar theme that we find in Luke – a theme that is introduced in the Mary’s song:
“God will scatter the proud in the imagination of their conceit. He will cast down the mighty from their thrones and lift up the lowly”
The audio of this talk can be found here
And we saw that illustrated in Jesus comments about guests at a dinner party who choose the most important places. The host will say to them, ‘Move down’, and will say to those in the lower places, ‘Come on up higher’ (Luke 14:11)
And we see it here. God hears the prayer of the broken tax collector but not of the self-justifying Pharisee.
It is not that what the Pharisee is doing is wrong.
He fasts twice a week.
That was over and above what the law required. The law required fasting on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:29) and possibly on 4 days in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem (Zechariah 7:3,5;8:19)
But many Pharisees chose to fast twice a week – to abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset – on Mondays and Thursdays, in order to intercede, to pray, for the nation.
And he gives. He tithes.
And we saw that illustrated in Jesus comments about guests at a dinner party who choose the most important places. The host will say to them, ‘Move down’, and will say to those in the lower places, ‘Come on up higher’ (Luke 14:11)
And we see it here. God hears the prayer of the broken tax collector but not of the self-justifying Pharisee.
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| The Tax collector and the Pharisee. Mosaic from St Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna. c505AD |
It is not that what the Pharisee is doing is wrong.
He fasts twice a week.
That was over and above what the law required. The law required fasting on the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:29) and possibly on 4 days in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem (Zechariah 7:3,5;8:19)
But many Pharisees chose to fast twice a week – to abstain from food and drink from dawn to sunset – on Mondays and Thursdays, in order to intercede, to pray, for the nation.
And he gives. He tithes.
He gives a tenth of all that he has. And the text implies that he is scrupulous in his tithing – potentially giving over and above what was required of the law. And Jesus sort of assumes that those who have given themselves to God will at least tithe.
So it is not what he is doing that is wrong.
Where he goes wrong is in his self-justification.
He is so British. He thinks that he stands right with God because he is a good man.
There is a great quote, that has some truth in it: ‘The average Englishman is a self-made man who worships his creator’.
In the early church there were many huge debates.
One of the biggest was about the person of Jesus. That is why the bishops were brought together at Nicaea in 325 – to see if they could agree on something. And out of that has come what we now know as the Nicene creed.
But another debate was begun by Pelagius, a monk from the British Isles. It is the classic British heresy. He argues that we have God’s law. If we obey God’s law, if we keep God’s law then we are saved. If we don’t then we are condemned. In other words, if you are good enough you can get to heaven.
That view is everywhere.
The story is told of a little boy misbehaving. Dad is going out to a football match and only has one ticket, and he wants to go with Dad. He was really playing up. And mum in desperation said to him, ‘Little boys who misbehave and don’t do what they are told wont go to heaven’. And the boy replied, ‘I don’t want to go with heaven. I want to go with daddy’.
And if it is not God – it is God substitute, Santa. Santa is a classic follower of Pelagius. He’ll only give gifts to those who are good.
The problem, if we drink this in, is that it will either lead to despair – I have done such awful things, and I am never going to be able to be good enough to be a Christian – or we will be like the Pharisee. We think, ‘I’m not that bad. I’ve not done bad stuff. In fact, I’m quite good’. And in our pride, as we puff ourselves up, we will start to become judgemental about others.
I did it – so why can’t they
We become like the Sunday school teacher who was telling his children about this story, and he finished by saying a prayer, ‘God, we thank you that we are not like the Pharisee’.
And my fear is that the older I become, the easier it is to become more judgemental, like this Pharisee.
No! We are saved by grace. We are saved not because of our good works, but by the love and mercy and kindness of God
And any good works that we can presume to have are a work of the Holy Spirit that God has put into us, and a response of deep gratitude to the God who loves us, who sent his only Son Jesus to die for us, and who – because of Jesus’ freely chosen death for us – are now forgiven, welcomed and indeed adopted as sons and daughters of God.
“God shows his love for us in this. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us”
That is the logic of the gospel, the good news.
The tax collector is very different.
Grace has already come to him.
He is a probably a rich man. His riches were gained legally – but by exploiting his position of authority over other people.
He has looked at himself in the mirror – really looked – and he has seen himself as he really is. He has seen his desire to prove himself, his love of the good life, and his willingness to use his position to trample over others to get what he wants. And he is broken.
I’m not sure that we can really grow in the Christian faith, in our love for God, unless we are prepared to allow him to break us, to take us down, so that he can then lift us up.
And the tax collector comes to the temple. That would have been a pretty big step for him, and he goes into a corner, ‘far away’ from the altar, and he beats his breast (they did that sort of thing in those days) and he says, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’. God forgive me, God change me. God I need you. Rescue me. I am putting my trust in you.
And Jesus tells us that God hears his prayer. He goes home justified. It is JUST AS IF HE’D never sinned. He was forgiven. Washed clean.
This is a story that Jesus tells, but it matches an event that happened in Jesus’ life. A tax collector, Zacchaeus, climbs a tree because he is desperate to see Jesus, but wants to keep his distance. But Jesus turns to him and says, ‘I am coming to your house today’. Jesus welcomes him by asking Zacchaeus to welcome him’. And Zacchaeus does – and as a result offers to pay back four-fold everything he has stolen.
We can picture it like this.
On the day of judgement, we stand before God.
Perhaps we will say to God, ‘I was a good Christian. I was decent, law abiding, respectful of neighbours and kind to cats. I supported many good causes, and I went to church. I thank you that I was such a good person, and you should let me in to heaven’.
We will be like that person in Matthew 7, who says ‘Lord, Lord’ and then tells him everything that we did – did I not do this and this and that that’
And we will get a terrible shock. He will say to us, ‘I do not know you’.
‘Everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled’
Or we can come before him, and see Jesus there. And we will see God’s holiness and beauty and love and power. And we will be broken.
It is not simply that I will realise that I have got so much wrong, or that I have preached so much wrong; it is that I will see in myself so much that is not right: my fear, complacency, self-centredness, coldness, blindness to the needs of others, my emptiness, my lack of love and my wasted life – and all I can do is to stand at a distance, far away, and to cry out to him for mercy.
And God will look at his son Jesus, at his scars, and this is our assurance, our confidence. Jesus will simply say, ‘I died for him’. And although we will not be able to move to him, the Father will get up from his throne and come to us. He will embrace us and he will say, ‘Welcome home’.
So it is not what he is doing that is wrong.
Where he goes wrong is in his self-justification.
He is so British. He thinks that he stands right with God because he is a good man.
There is a great quote, that has some truth in it: ‘The average Englishman is a self-made man who worships his creator’.
In the early church there were many huge debates.
One of the biggest was about the person of Jesus. That is why the bishops were brought together at Nicaea in 325 – to see if they could agree on something. And out of that has come what we now know as the Nicene creed.
But another debate was begun by Pelagius, a monk from the British Isles. It is the classic British heresy. He argues that we have God’s law. If we obey God’s law, if we keep God’s law then we are saved. If we don’t then we are condemned. In other words, if you are good enough you can get to heaven.
That view is everywhere.
The story is told of a little boy misbehaving. Dad is going out to a football match and only has one ticket, and he wants to go with Dad. He was really playing up. And mum in desperation said to him, ‘Little boys who misbehave and don’t do what they are told wont go to heaven’. And the boy replied, ‘I don’t want to go with heaven. I want to go with daddy’.
And if it is not God – it is God substitute, Santa. Santa is a classic follower of Pelagius. He’ll only give gifts to those who are good.
The problem, if we drink this in, is that it will either lead to despair – I have done such awful things, and I am never going to be able to be good enough to be a Christian – or we will be like the Pharisee. We think, ‘I’m not that bad. I’ve not done bad stuff. In fact, I’m quite good’. And in our pride, as we puff ourselves up, we will start to become judgemental about others.
I did it – so why can’t they
We become like the Sunday school teacher who was telling his children about this story, and he finished by saying a prayer, ‘God, we thank you that we are not like the Pharisee’.
And my fear is that the older I become, the easier it is to become more judgemental, like this Pharisee.
No! We are saved by grace. We are saved not because of our good works, but by the love and mercy and kindness of God
And any good works that we can presume to have are a work of the Holy Spirit that God has put into us, and a response of deep gratitude to the God who loves us, who sent his only Son Jesus to die for us, and who – because of Jesus’ freely chosen death for us – are now forgiven, welcomed and indeed adopted as sons and daughters of God.
“God shows his love for us in this. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us”
That is the logic of the gospel, the good news.
The tax collector is very different.
Grace has already come to him.
He is a probably a rich man. His riches were gained legally – but by exploiting his position of authority over other people.
He has looked at himself in the mirror – really looked – and he has seen himself as he really is. He has seen his desire to prove himself, his love of the good life, and his willingness to use his position to trample over others to get what he wants. And he is broken.
I’m not sure that we can really grow in the Christian faith, in our love for God, unless we are prepared to allow him to break us, to take us down, so that he can then lift us up.
And the tax collector comes to the temple. That would have been a pretty big step for him, and he goes into a corner, ‘far away’ from the altar, and he beats his breast (they did that sort of thing in those days) and he says, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’. God forgive me, God change me. God I need you. Rescue me. I am putting my trust in you.
And Jesus tells us that God hears his prayer. He goes home justified. It is JUST AS IF HE’D never sinned. He was forgiven. Washed clean.
This is a story that Jesus tells, but it matches an event that happened in Jesus’ life. A tax collector, Zacchaeus, climbs a tree because he is desperate to see Jesus, but wants to keep his distance. But Jesus turns to him and says, ‘I am coming to your house today’. Jesus welcomes him by asking Zacchaeus to welcome him’. And Zacchaeus does – and as a result offers to pay back four-fold everything he has stolen.
We can picture it like this.
On the day of judgement, we stand before God.
Perhaps we will say to God, ‘I was a good Christian. I was decent, law abiding, respectful of neighbours and kind to cats. I supported many good causes, and I went to church. I thank you that I was such a good person, and you should let me in to heaven’.
We will be like that person in Matthew 7, who says ‘Lord, Lord’ and then tells him everything that we did – did I not do this and this and that that’
And we will get a terrible shock. He will say to us, ‘I do not know you’.
‘Everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled’
Or we can come before him, and see Jesus there. And we will see God’s holiness and beauty and love and power. And we will be broken.
It is not simply that I will realise that I have got so much wrong, or that I have preached so much wrong; it is that I will see in myself so much that is not right: my fear, complacency, self-centredness, coldness, blindness to the needs of others, my emptiness, my lack of love and my wasted life – and all I can do is to stand at a distance, far away, and to cry out to him for mercy.
And God will look at his son Jesus, at his scars, and this is our assurance, our confidence. Jesus will simply say, ‘I died for him’. And although we will not be able to move to him, the Father will get up from his throne and come to us. He will embrace us and he will say, ‘Welcome home’.
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