Sermon for October 23, 2016
Proper 25C – RCl Track 1
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `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.' But
the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was
beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you,
this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who
exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be
exalted."
This parable is one that can
certainly get us in trouble if we are not careful. It is easy, perhaps too easy, to read this
with disdain for the Pharisee. A plain
reading puts him into a bad light. While
the tax collector – they guy who is in a dishonorable profession – working for
the occupation force and extorting money from the Jewish people is the good
guy. We want to read this as a story of
absolute grace – which is the right thing.
It is God who justifies the tax collector – and nothing that the tack
collector does that causes the justification.
Every week I listen to a podcast
about the lessons. And one of the
members of the podcast mentioned that we want to think that the tax collector –
who is begging God for mercy – is going to leave with a change of heart and do
something different. But that is not
what the story says. It does not say
that the tax collector goes off and stops collecting taxes. He might not even be able to stop. He is stuck in a system where he is unlikely
to be able to get another job. We want
to think that being justified means change. Justification is a gift from God.
It is also important to point out
that the Pharisee is doing nothing wrong.
Being described as righteous is a good thing. It means that he has been able to follow all
of the law of the Torah – and unlike the tax collector – is easily ritually
clean. The problem with him is not the
righteousness but that he gives credit for the righteousness to himself and
himself alone. There is no room for God
to enter into his prayer.
The problem for us is that I think
we all too often find ourselves saying the prayer of the Pharisee. Perhaps not as straight forward as his ‘thank
god I am not like that tax collector over there’. But perhaps more subtly “There but for the
grace of God go I”. Did you ever think
about how even that simple phrase sets up the same judgment that we hear from
the Pharisee?
There are all kinds of subtle
prayers – or perhaps we think of them as only thoughts that invoke
judgment. When we think of other people
as the outsider – the other – we are casting judgment. Thank goodness I am not a republican or
democrat or ... fill in the blank. It is
when we demonize other people because of who or what they are we are committing
the sin of exclusion.
The sad part is many of us are
conditioned by our society to place people in bins. We automatically categorize people as in our
out. White, black or brown. Straight, gay, lesbian, transgendered,
queer. Male or female. People who sleep
in houses and those who sleep in sheds.
People with privilege who feel threatened when even thesuggestion is
made that we need to reach out to those who don’t have privilege. Because somehow when society helps someone
else it causes there to be less of some thing for me.
Our society traps people into
behavior and actions that separate. We
refuse to fund adequate mental health care for veterans returning from the
nightmares of war. We refuse to provide
youth who have – at the tender age of 18 – termed out of the foster care
system. We refuse to recognize that
people need adequate shelter – even if they can’t afford it and even if they
are self-medicating. We demonize the
other even at the top of our society – just dare to watch or read about the
presidential candidate debates.
And dear friends that is not what
we are called to do. Our call is to
recognize when we are separating people into the saved and the dammed based on
our expectations – or societies expectations.
And when we recognize we are doing it we need to try and stop. To stop and remember that we are all beloved
children of God. And that really none of
us is any better than the other when taken on the whole.
Our call is to work towards a
society that is justified and not a society that is righteous. I say that because a justified society
recognizes that it is not about the individual.
It is not about pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps. A justified society will recognize the
contributions that each and every person has the potential to make and that we
are not to judge.
A justified society leaves the
judgment to God – where it belongs. We
are called to Love god and love our neighbor.
With no judgment on that neighbor – even – and perhaps especially when
they deserve it. Which is not easy and
we all have failed at that calling from time to time.
We are not called to separate
ourselves like the Pharisee did for fear of being contaminated. We are called to work to break societal
expectations that oppress. Make no
mistake changing society is hard. And
will not happen overnight. I am hopeful
that the resurgence of white supremacy and misogyny that has reared its ugly
head during our presidential campaign is a sign that these attitudes are on
their way out and are surfacing in desperation.
But that will only be true if we work to reach out and show that we
loose nothing when we value each other.
My prayer this week is that we
will recognize when our prayers turn into the prayer of the Pharisee. A prayer of exclusion. And that when we do we
will – like the tax collector – throw ourselves on the mercy of the one who
justifies so that we can change the world into the one that God dreams will be
a reality. A world where we respect the
dignity of all creation.
Amen.
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