Homily for Sunday - "What a Pharisee and a Tax Collector at Prayer can teach us"

 2022-10-23 Angels 5 - Genesis 4:1-15; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-17

In the name of the Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

On page 1335 of the new Lutheran Study Bible is a page dedicated to introducing the reader to incidents of humor and comedy in the Bible. On that page are definitions and biblical examples of Euphemism, Foolishness, Hyperbole, Irony, Puns, Riddles, Sarcasm, Parody, and the Gospel as comedy. Also included in that list is Satire which we find in today’s gospel.  

Satire is defined as “an oral or literary composition that ridicules someone’s vices or foolishness.” I prefer the way that Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines satire in it’s second definition:  trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly. We don’t know for certain, but I can imagine that Jesus’ patience may have been running a bit thin regarding the more stridently righteous of the brethren, and that he spoke his parable with a certain stone faced irony or that he spoke the words of the Pharisee’s prayer with a slight tone of sarcasm. Alas! We do not have the tone, but we do have the words. And, for those of us with ears to hear, that is a-plenty. 

We are often told in the gospels who Jesus is talking to. This is certainly the case here too.  He tells the parable to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.” This group could be Pharisees,  Sadducees, and scribes, or, it could be his disciples who are feeling pretty hip and cool because they are with the superstar Rabbi Jesus. Or, it could be any old group that meets up with Jesus because they feel like Jesus might be “one of them.” 

Regardless of who Jesus is speaking with, the paring of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee is in itself a comedic set up.  Tax Collectors are Jewish and are entitled to pray in any location that any other Jewish male may pray.  But, Tax Collectors are known for the abuse of their office as they collect money for the local government and the Roman Empire. In general, they are despised and must be handled as a necessary evil.  The Pharisee is generally considered to be a true man of God.  He knows his Torah and the interpretations of the Rabbi’s.  He is a conscientious student of God’s Word and a devout worshiper of the one true God.  In the popular imagination, whatever is going to happen in the contrast between the Tax Collector and the Pharisee, most likely one is going to side with the Pharisee.  Because the Pharisees are the good guys and the Tax collector is not.  As Jesus begins his comparison between the two men, the listeners already know that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Tax Collectors can possibly teach us. 

When we hear this parable, we have the opposite expectation.  Because of our familiarity with the Gospels and with the Apostle Paul, we expect the bad guy to be the Pharisee.  And, surely he has nothing to teach us.  

As it turns out, in the hands of Jesus, both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector have something to teach us.  And, as far as the Pharisee goes, satire will be the method to get this across to us. 

For those of us who are deeply committed to the faith and who make every effort to be here on Sundays and other days for worship, who are deeply invested in the Christian community that gathers at Emmaus, and who do take our fiscal responsibilities for the ongoing work of the gospel ministry and the maintenance of the facilities seriously, the Pharisee leads us into self-reflection and examination. Jesus uses the Pharisee’s pride to make us honest about where we are spiritually right now. 

Can we see ourselves in the Pharisee? Of course none of us would dare utter a prayer as crass as this fellow, but we certainly could think a few things that are similar.  For example, “Thank God, I’m a Christian and not like those lost pagans” or “thank God my marriage isn’t a wreck like theirs” or “thank God my kids aren’t into trouble like those people.”   

Another question, when we are met with an accusation of some kind, do may go through a certain litany, spoken or unspoken, that goes like this, “Hey, I’m a good person, I go to church, I go to work, I treat others well, I give to charity, etc. etc?” 

Another question, after serving at Hope Ministries or in the homeless shelter or some other social ministry venue that brings us into close contact with people who are having a hard time with life right now. For one reason or another they have no home; or are barely living because of they are caught up in the effects of addiction.  Might a thought stray into our minds such as “I’ve got my troubles, but I’m not a lost hopeless mess like those people?” 

Another question. Because we are truly good people who give so much in so many ways, might we find that a certain astonishment, dismay, perhaps even anger and bitterness, lurks and grows within us because God has not done for us what we asked Him to do?  He has not answered our specific prayers. He has not fixed our problem. He has not addressed our issue. He has not brought me the peace I expected.  Is He ignoring me? Does He even care? 

The questions and potential answers have their origin in a lie we can tell ourselves that began as soon as Eve and then Adam decided that the Serpent just might be telling the truth and chose to disobey the Lord’s command. Adam and Eve want to be on the same level as God. The short hand way of talking about this lie is sin. The way it is manifested here is pride. 

Because I am God’s, I am owed a thing or two.  I am entitled. I am God’s beloved, so, of course, the Lord is going to bless me in a way that suits me. The Pharisee can pray that he is blessed not to be like that other man. He reminds God that he fasts, tithes, and does not have a job extorting people like that tax collector. It’s really a matter of pride, you see.  

The truth of God’s Law tells us that this kind of thinking, attitude, or prayer is wrong and sinful.  God does not owe us a thing. Nor do we have the privilege of expecting God to serve us. That is sinful pride talking because we have no bargaining position whatsoever before the Lord God.    

The Tax Collector points us in the right direction.  He knows the truth of himself. He confesses it.  He makes no excuses. He compares himself to no one.  The Tax Collector knows that as far as God is concerned he is no better than anyone else.  All he can do is ask for mercy.  “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” 

In article 5 of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Melanchthon writes this. 

Flesh and righteousness of the flesh cannot endure God’s judgment. ... all confidence is empty, except confidence in mercy.  Mercy delivers us; our own merits, our own efforts, do not.  So Daniel prays: For we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness, but because of Your great mercy.  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act.  Delay not, for Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:18-19)

So Daniel teaches us in praying to seize mercy, that is to trust in God’s mercy and not to trust in our own merits before God.  We also wonder what our adversaries do in prayer, if the ungodly people ever ask anything of God.  If they declare that they are worthy because they have love and good works and ask for grace as a debt, they pray precisely like the Pharisee who says, “I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11).  He who prays for grace in this way does not rely upon God’s mercy and treats Christ with disrespect.  After all, he is our High Priest, who intercedes for us.  So prayer relies upon God’s mercy, when we believe that we are heard for Christ’s sake.” (Page 180-181 of Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions: A Reader’s Edition of the Book of Concord. 2005, 2006)

Our prayers, our Christian life, begin in God’s mercy. The Tax Collector knows this.  Jesus says that the Tax Collector went back home justified before God.

The Holy Spirit gives us this parable of Jesus to remind us of where we are before God.  We are no where, except for the gift of Jesus Christ and his cross.  We have no righteousness, no bargaining power, no standing before God, except for God’s mercy in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit moves faith within us to grasp the promise of the cross.  On account of our dear Savior’s death on the cross, we receive our heavenly Father’s declaration of righteousness and forgiveness. It is truly a gift.  

God, be merciful to us, for we are sinners!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.