"Pharisee Or Tax Collector"

                                   "Who Do You Identify With"

Question:  How many of us here today have felt that when we were growing up we did our part, but there were others who somehow seemed to always get away scott free.  Has the same old feeling crept into your adult life?   These are often unspoken words that hang around a church family too.   

Oct 27 2013  Psalm 65  2 Tim 4: 6-8 16-18  Luke 18: 9-14

When we read this common parable the question that could possibly come to mind is this:  Which of the two characters in the story do I personally relate to, the Pharisee or the tax collector?   May be you see in yourself as I do myself, containing a little bit of both characters.     Has there ever been a moment in your life when you feel a little superior to your neighbor.  I personally often think to myself, I rarely miss a Sunday morning worship service!! 

Oh I know what your thinking, well, he has more than one good reason to show up every Sunday morning, cause he gets paid to be hear right! “Oh Lord I thank thee that I am not like my neighbor who doesn’t go to church on Sundays or is a C& E Christian, you know them, they are the ones who only come out on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday.  Or maybe you have felt that a neighbor isn’t as generous to church and charity as you have been.  I pledge faithfully, and do my part.  Have you ever feel like that?  Well join the party, we all have, including myself.  I think there is a little of the Pharisee in all of us, wouldn’t you say.   

Now I don’t know about you but I will also say that it isn’t until I mess up really badly that I begin to feel the humility of the tax collector.   Persons who are in any kind of recovery program call this, “hitting bottom”.  Major mistakes and our admission to them, are required by many of us, in order to see our need for God’s amazing Grace and unconditional forgiveness.   Let us never forget the first couple of lines of “Amazing Grace” {sing them}.   Amazing grace, How sweet the sound   That saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost, but now I am found,    Was blind, but now I see.
Reorganization and then admission of our retched sinful condition is the beginning of our road to freedom folks!  Only then do we echo the words of the tax collector with authenticity, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”    You know if you use this statement of words authentically, they are not words of self -condemnation, no they are words that lead you to freedom.  These are the words of one who is truly submitting and surrendering.  We sing of our surrender in this song:

All to Jesus I surrender All to Him I freely give  I will ever love and trust Him  In His presence daily live    I surrender all  I surrender all    All to Thee my blessed Savior I surrender all

All to Jesus I surrender Humbly at His feet I bow  Worldly pleasures all forsaken     Take me, Jesus, take me now,   I surrender all  I surrender…

All to Thee my blessed Savior   I surrender all

Unfortunately for many in the Western Christian Church it can sometimes be a hostile place for this kind of authentic remorse and humility.   Often others do not want to hear of our time when we have hit bottom, when we surrendered and began to submit to the will of our spiritual nature.  This is the nature that has an instant connection to the Holy Spirit.  And what do we know the Holy Spirit to be:  “The Spirit of TRUTH”     Many of us are not comfortable with the idea that we are all the same, especially when it comes to missing the mark but sin is sin folks and there is no qualifying the sin.   So it is easier to talk about our neighbors mistakes than to openly expose my personal shortcomings thank you very much.   The parable Folks is for us today and tells us about ourselves as a follower of Christ.   If it makes us twinge at the thought of acting like the self-righteous Pharisee, it should also inspire us, with the humility of the tax collector, for we all have a little bit of both within us.  Arrogance or humility which ever one you feed the most it is the one which denominates your life.  The parable should also tell us about God’s grace and mercy and that sin is not a barrier but an opportunity to receive same.  As ironic as it may sound missing the mark or sin as the bible coins it, is the binding factor that allows Gods saving grace to flow freely from one to the other.  Here is a revelation for you, our justification is not obtained by doing things, even good things like charitable giving or acts of kindness or compassion.   In fact again, as ironic as it may sound, justification cannot be achieved, at least not by us.  Justification comes through God’s reaching out in mercy and grace to those who have been lost to sin, like me and you.   This act of receiving God mercy is the result of my surrendering.  Want mercy and grace bestowed upon you, then give it over, whatever it is that holds you in bondage.  Arrogance, self-righteousness, greed, addictions of any kind are just a few examples of bondage.  The recovering addict will tell you, it wasn’t until I recognized and admitted to my helplessness that I began on a road to recovery.   Surrendering is a spiritual practice that strengthens your spiritual nature and when learned and practiced can actually set you free.

Jesus communicates this profound truth in a short parable about two men in a temple praying.  In typical Jesus fashion, he reminds us that appearances can be deceiving.   One, a respected elder of the church, one who does his duty, and follows all the laws of his religion walks away lost in his self-righteousness, while the other, a common every day sinner, struggling to stay on the straight and narrow would most likely be shunned by good church going folk. Yet it is he who walks away after the dust settles justified free from his bondage.    Once again in great fashion, Jesus destroys the view of the status quo.  At least for all those of us who have the eyes and ears to see and hear it. 

It is so seductive to trust in ourselves, seeing ourselves as righteous while at the same time have contempt for our neighbor.  It is just too easy to pat ourselves on the back for doing our duty, being charitable, and serving our church.  Hooray for us and boo to those who do not follow our lead.   This form of dualistic thinking or attitude can lead us to look down on our neighbor with contempt and taint our good intentions.   Jesus challenges believers to avoid trusting in our own efforts and self-righteousness rather than accepting and recognizing the many ways in which we miss the mark and fall into sin.    

We are all precious in God’s eyes, each and every one of us.  And it is not because we are good, compassionate and charitable.  It is because we are Gods, and God is our true parent, both Mother and Father.  The one who truly longs for us to come home, the one and only true parent who loves and forgives us without conditions.    Praise be to God.