Are you “Religious” or “Faithful”
RUMC October 24th 2010
(Standing in the middle facing congregation boastfully)
The Pharisee might have sounded like this.
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ AMEN
So, what do you think?
We often hear this as boasting. He could be boasting. Fasting once a week was all that was required. “Look at me I fast twice a week.” Tithing was expected then, as it is now. The tithe is a 10th of the income. He also gave a tenth of everything he bought in case someone else didn’t pay their tithe. . And He wanted to make sure that everyone in earshot knew heard what a good boy he was. And he WAS!
The Pharisee thanks God that he is not like other people, and then specifically identifies these "others" as "extortionists, the unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector." All others, in the Pharisee’s estimation, are guilty of robbery and violence, unrighteousness or injustice and sexual immorality. And he wants everyone, especially God, to know that he is not like that. Maybe he is Boasting
(Standing to the side, facing the other side)
Again he might have sounded like this.
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves-um wait a minute- strike that., rogues-oops- um- you better forget that too , adulterers! That’s one I haven’t done. . . this week. Anyway thank you God that at least I am not like this tax collector. At least I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ AMEN
So, what do you think?
Could he be protesting too much? Possibly. Maybe he is declaring his innocence before those who know better, and using prayer as his soapbox. That could be- in fact we’d like to think he is because that would knock him off his pedestal and make him more like us.
(Standing in the center facing the cross sincerely-)
But maybe he sounded like this.
‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: you know thieves, rogues, adulterers, (pause) or even like this poor tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ AMEN
You know he could be right. Maybe we should give him a break and admit that he might be right. Maybe he was like Paul "as to righteousness under the law, blameless", (Phil.3:6.) In fact, as Jesus tells the story, the Pharisee had exceeded the law's demands. Pharisees in Jesus' day were laymen who advocated and practiced rigorous observance of the law. They even sought to go beyond normal expectations which is reflected in the Pharisee's prayer. Like I said earlier, the law certainly didn't require fasting twice a week, nor was a person expected to give a tithe of everything they purchased.
What if he really is unlike others? Nothing suggests that his claims are untrue. Nothing suggests that he is like the tax collector.
Maybe He was really good.
The truth is Jesus does not tell us what is in the Pharisee’s heart. We can’t judge the truth or falseness, or the motivation of his prayer. We can, however, say three things before we move on to the other prayer.
· First, the Pharisee is definitely the center of the Pharisee’s prayer. He spends a lot more time talking about himself about anything else.
· Second, He definitely defines himself in relation to other people instead of relation to God. “ I don’t do the things other people do. I am not as bad as this person next to me.”
· Third, and this is hard to admit. It definitely hooks most of us into thinking “Man look how arrogant and self centered he is. Look how he compares himself to other people. Look how he puts down the tax collector. Boy I guess I could be a lot worse off. You know ‘God, I thank you that I am not like the Pharisee: you know smug, self-righteouss, attention seeking, . . . Wait a minute. Did you hear that? Did you hear how easily I slipped into doing exactly what the Pharisee was doing?
And right now you are sitting there thinking “Well, at least I am not as bad as that preacher. . . “ or are we all in the same boat?
The tax collector on the other hand, prays ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Short sweet and to the point.
He’s Probably right
As part of a graft-ridden occupation which collaborated with the Roman government, he was a despised member of Jewish society They were hired by the Romans to collect taxes and the normal practice was that tax collectors would add to the required tax their own cut. By so doing they became very wealthy. Thus, they benefited from the Roman occupation. They were the administrators of the Roman tax system in the towns and cities of Galilee and Judea. Because they profited from this status, and because the tax system exploited the people, they were hated and were regarded as criminal and corrupt..
Unlike the Pharisee, he proclaimed his sinfulness and asked that God spare him from the righteous judgment that was coming his way.
Just as we could definitely say three things about the Pharisee’s prayer we can definitely say three things about this little prayer.
· First, God is definitely more in the center of this prayer than he was in the other prayer. The tax collector refers to himself only as a simmer.
· Second, He definitely doesn’t judge or put others down. He doesn’t even mention anyone else.
· Third, he relies solely on God’s grace. He says nothing about anything he has done to deserve mercy.
Who do you resemble more? The religious Pharisee or the faithful tax collector.
I call the Pharisee religious because he seemed to do all the outward actions of the Jewish religion, everything that was expected and more. In our terms he was on every committee at the same time. Volunteered to clean the church, be the secretary, shovel the snow for no pay. Tithed 20% instead of 10% and on top of all that he sits down to encourage and pray with the pastor every day after he finished 3 hours of in depth Bible study and three hours of prayer. That is religious!
And I call the tax collector faithful because faith is all he had. No good deeds, no bragging, no reason to be forgiven no reason that God should love him. The only thing he had was faith in God’s mercy and forgiveness.
Who do you resemble more? The religious Pharisee who relies on himself, or the faithful tax collector who relies only on God.
Now you might think that I would love to have all 360 members of this church be like the Pharisee doing all that stuff. No. I’d rather have you. . . I’d rather have you faithfully relying entirely and completely on God. . . As a pastor I would trade 360 go get’em self reliant Pharisees for ten of you with a truly faithful, heartful, honest relationships with Jesus Christ.
That’s right, I’d rather have 10 faithful members than 360 religious ones. God calls us to radical dependence on grace. Not religion- just grace.
And now the hard part.
OK, you say I can do that. But what about next week? Let's say that the same two guys show up in the temple. The cleanly-attired and clean-minded pharisee reminds God (again) of how devout he is, while, this week, the tax collector shows up (again) with his whisky-breath and a blonde on each arm, and intones the same "I'm a jerk/let me off the hook anyway" prayer. Guess what? The pharisee would (again) not be justified, and the tax collector (again) would.
Week after that, same thing. Week after that, same thing.
That makes it an entirely different story doesn’t it? If it only happens once we can convince ourselves that the tax collector went home justified and repented. In other words he became a little more like the Pharisee. Maybe that’s the way it should work. But maybe it doesn’t. Even if he doesn’t change a thing, he could come back the next week the story would turn out exactly the same. Radical grace.
It is not our piddly attempts at self-improvement.
It is not about crying our eyes out or feeling suitably bad about ourselves.
Quite the contrary.
The story is not about the Pharisee who depended entirely on his own goodness.
The story is not about the tax collector who deserved nothing, but got everything.
It is not even about us, as pathetic and powerless as we are.
The story is actually about God:
God’s scandalous love for you even though you sometimes act like the Pharisee.
God’s shocking forgiveness for us all even though we sometimes behave like the tax collector.
God’s extravagant grace for each of us, even though we sometimes act like ourselves.
Call on that forgiveness. Depend on that love. Rely wholly on that grace.
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