Sermon for October 23, 2022 – 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Joel 2:23-32, Psalm 65, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18, Luke 18:9-14
It is hard to not interpret Jesus’ parable this morning in straightforward or even simplistic terms. I think it is so, in part, because the dramatic action of this parable is so very predictable by now in the 18th Chapter of Luke’s gospel. Knowing that Pharisees are regularly cast in the gospels as Jesus' opposition, we all too easily judge the Pharisee to be a self-righteous hypocrite, which he is, and assume that the moral of this story is to be humble, which it is…in part.
There is good reason for this straightforward interpretation, as Luke seems to frame the parable in just these terms. But here’s the thing: whenever a parable seems this clear and simple, we need to look deeper; because as we have seen before in Luke, there is often more than meets the eye. He is, after all, the master of reversals. From Mary’s song at the beginning of the Gospel to the words Jesus utters to the crowd and thief at the cross, things never stay as they are for long in Luke’s gospel. This parable is also significant for the prayer, the words of the tax collector has become the root of widely used prayer of the heart. So, let’s dig more deeply into this parable by taking a closer look at Jesus’ two characters in his parable.
First up is the Pharisee. The Pharisees of the first century were more than just “legalists” who were trying to earn God’s favor, as we might be led to believe through scripture and tradition. Perhaps these are the lenses of the author or of theologians past, but there are other lenses through which we can view these verses. The Pharisees were indeed a Jewish movement that emphasized the importance of obedience to the law of Moses. They believed that living in accordance with torah was a way of making God’s benefits visible and accessible in all aspects of life for all who were Jewish; especially as Jerusalem was a multicultural hub of both money and prayer.
The Pharisees’ attention to things like rituals for cleansing one’s body or one’s cookware was part of a larger effort to encounter God’s holiness in everyday life. Their priorities aligned with the notion of Israel as a holy, or “set apart,” nation, even though in the first century Jews lived in subjection to Roman rule and were dispersed throughout the Mediterranean world. By adhering as closely as one could to the Law of Moses, they were retaining and passing on to each new generation a sense of purity within the many streams within Jewish practice. The similarities Jesus shared with the Pharisees as a teacher of the faith led to dialogue, which made some Pharisees sympathetic to Jesus’ movement like Nicodemus who can only visit Jesus under the cover of night for fear of being seen and associated with Jesus, who in the minds of most Pharisees was anything but pure. The similarities also exacerbated the differences, as Jesus and the Pharisees participated in critical intra-Jewish debates about how exactly Jewish values should express themselves in a changing cultural landscape.
Truth be told, the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable only speaks the truth: he is righteous. He lives his life according to the law. He fasts and gives alms and bears no resemblance to the people with which he compares himself. What, then, is his problem? It narrows down to one thing: while he is right about the kind of life he should live, he is confused about the source of that life. For while he prays to God, his prayer is really about himself. Because he misses the source of his blessing, he despises those people God loves. For this reason, he leaves the Temple as righteous according to the law as when he entered, but he is not justified; that is, he is not called righteous by God. For it would never occur to him to even ask.
And then there is the other character in the parable, the tax collector or the publican, if you prefer the King James translation. The Roman Empire’s taxation system repeatedly offended many residents of first-century Galilee. It is difficult to determine how severe the taxation demands were on individuals and their families, but the tax-gathering system was notoriously corrupt. To collect taxes in places like neighborhoods, highways, markets, and docks, Roman officials enlisted members of the population to bid for contracts. Tax collectors could line their own pockets with whatever they could collect over and above their contractual obligations.
Tax collectors are associated with sinners throughout Luke. They were generally viewed as dishonest and greedy. The reasons are obvious. They were opportunists and collaborators, willing to victimize their own neighbors while assisting the occupiers. They upheld Roman interests at the expense of the people of God.
Yet, once again, Jesus in Luke’s gospel upends our expectations. As Jesus tells the story, there is no note of repentance in the tax collector’s speech, no pledge to leave his employment or pay back those he has cheated, no promises of a new and better life. Nothing, except the simple acknowledgment that he is utterly and entirely dependent on God’s mercy. The tax collector knows the one thing the Pharisee does not: his life is God’s -- his past, present, and future are entirely dependent on God’s grace and mercy.
The reversal in this story is that the tax collector goes home justified not the Pharisee. The Pharisee does everything correct according to the law, but he does not rely on God. He is focused solely on himself, on how his actions are perceived by others. He is doing the right things to make himself look better, whereas the tax collector’s focus is on God. He makes a simple statement of his sinfulness and through prayer asks God only for mercy. The tax collector is not concerned with how his actions are perceived by others, his only concern is how God views him.
The tax collector in this parable, a picture of shame, makes the association himself in a prayer of few words: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” These are simple but powerful words that he utters. Our prayers do not need to be long or eloquent, they just need to come from our heart. And that is what the tax collector has done. In his prayer he asks only one thing and through which he acknowledges the brokenness and faults that he, and frankly we all, experience.
This parable is about being humble, and it is also about prayer. Through this parable, Jesus is telling us that God is seeking the prayers of our hearts; what matters most to us, what is keeping us up at night, what is filling us with joy. Prayer is an intimate act that as a regular spiritual practice form the foundation of our spiritual lives. The tax collector’s prayer has become the heart of a very famous and widely practiced spiritual practice. It is known as the Jesus Prayer. Born out of the Eastern Christian branch of the Jesus movement, the Jesus Prayer is the spiritual discipline above all others because it moves us towards living out Paul’s command for us to pray without ceasing. It is the heart of the spiritual life of monks and nuns and priests and lay people across the whole world.
And it couldn’t be simpler; Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. That’s it. The full and powerful name of our savior: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, combined with the simple prayer of the tax collector: Have mercy on me, a sinner. This prayer is repeated again and again, each and every day. It is done in this way because over time the prayer moves from our head down and penetrates the heart to dwell silently in the soul…this prayer is the essence of spirituality. When we let go of trying to find the right words and allow our hearts to speak our deepest longings and desires, that is prayer. This is what God is seeking from us; to know that all that we have, all that we are, comes from God and as such our desires are God’s desires, our longings are God’s longings and prayer is the vehicle by which we communicate with God.
Last week we were challenged to be persistent in prayer like the widow, and this week we are challenged to see prayer as the language of our hearts spoken to God. I invite you this week to pray like the tax collector. If Jesus was sitting next to you right now, what would you say to him? What longings of your heart need to be spoken to God?
