The Shepherd’s Voice

Readings for Sunday, October 24^th
Jeremiah 14:7–10, 19–22
Psalm 84:1–7
2 Timothy 4:6–8, 16–18
Luke 18:9–14

Reversal of Fortune – The Shepherd’s Voice from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.

A preacher is visiting an elderly woman from his congregation. As he sits on the couch he notices a large bowl of peanuts on the coffee table. “Mind if I have a few?” he asks.
“No, not at all!” the woman replied.
They chat for an hour and as the preacher stands to leave, he realizes that instead of eating just a few peanuts, he emptied most of the bowl. “I’m terribly sorry for eating all your peanuts, I really just meant to eat a few.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” the woman says. “Ever since I lost my teeth all I can do is suck the chocolate off them.”

Today, we have a story where things may not be as they first appear. Jesus tells a story about someone who trusted in himself for righteousness and regarded others with contempt.

The Pharisee in our story, said, v12 “12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” This is a pretty solid guy, someone we’d be proud to have as a church member.

He is a good man, a keeper of the law, someone who fasts, and the tax collector is someone who is not your model citizen. A tax collector in Jewish society is not someone you’d be excited about, say if your daughter wanted to bring him home for dinner.

Fasting as practiced by the Jews in ancient Israel was an honorable thing. You would give up both food and drink for a set period of time.

Remember the story of Esther, how she was going to go before the king to ask a very delicate question. She tells Mordecai “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

Fasting was a method of getting oneself focused and prepared to go before God, in this case Esther goes before the king even though it’s against the law.

The Pharisee also gave a tithe, one tenth of what he had to support the priests in the temple. The tithe would also go to feed the hungry, to support the homeless.

“Jesus appears to have supported tithing as an outward sign of righteousness. (Matt 23:23 & Luke 11:42) Pastors today, church Stewardship committees, treasures are all very happy when people tithe. It supports God’s mission in the world, it’s a good thing.

Pharisee’s in Jesus day were like church council members in their behavior, they honored the law, they prayed, they supported the church, however sometimes Jesus criticized the Pharisees, the tithers for neglecting “weightier matters” of God’s law. (Matt 23:23 & Luke 11:42) Both Matthew and Luke tell us, sometimes Pharisees had a haughty attitude of acting self-righteousness.

We have some folks who act that way in society today.
However, feeling good about ourselves is healthy. Didn’t Jesus say, love your neighbor as yourself. Don’t we have to respect ourselves before we can respect others? However, having a positive self image and acting self-righteous are two very different things. When we act self-righteous our ego is puffed up and it diminishes our relationships with God and one another.

In our story the Pharisee is not all that bad, is he? When we pray, “except for the grace of God, there go I,” isn’t that a form of praying just as the Pharisee prayed. He said, “I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

We need to be careful how we pray, don’t we, lest we pray the Pharisee’s pray. Just in that very statement didn’t I do the very same thing I’m condemning the Pharisee for, I thank God I’m not like the Pharisee.

This is perhaps the beauty of simple prays filled with meaning, compassion. Look at the tax collector’s prayer. He simply was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ The focus is on God’s mercy not on us and how good we think we are.

Simply comparing the prayers can be helpful, it can be instructive, but is it the essence of the story? Do we want or expect God’s wisdom to devolve into a predictable and bland morality tale: “Be humble!” We can get that from Boy Scouts! Don’t get me wrong, that’s an ok message, but it’s NOT the essence of what Jesus is conveying in this parable?

If all we want out of our relationship with God is moralism than there are easier ways to get there than Christianity. Any humanistic ethic can be moralistic, but moralism does not a Christian make.

We need to look at this parable with another set of glasses, remember the peanuts. At the conclusion of the parable Jesus said, “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Yes humility matters, how we approach God matters, but humility does not buy us love, at least not God’s love. It’s not for sale!

Things are not always as how they first appear.

There was a man on a crowded city street who, while distracted, stepped right in front of moving truck. Another man grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the sidewalk. Shaken, the first man thanked the other profusely. The rescuer accepted the thanks and disappeared into the crowd. The man who had been pulled to safety, however, had been on his way to rob a convenience store. Now safe, he saw no reason not to continue. He did, but within hours, he was apprehended by the police and taken into court. As he faced the bench, he was surprised to see that the judge was the man who had saved his life earlier in the day. When the judge asked him if he had anything to say, the man said, “Your Honor, you know me. You saved my life this morning. Can’t you help me now?” The judge responded, “This morning I was your savior. Now I am your judge.” You might say this is a reversal of fortune.

In our story the Pharisee prays seeking justification, but in the process he breaks his relationship with the Father, he prays with contempt in his heart and is NOT justified.
On the other hand the tax collector who considers himself unworthy because of his sin, and he was unworthy, beats his breast and says ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Jesus says he goes home justified, NOT the Pharisee. The tax collector goes home being in a right relationship with God, because God made the relationship right.
The grand point is that the Pharisee cannot be justified through works although he is a good person. The tax collector knows that he is NOT worthy of justification because of his sin and yet the God of grace and mercy hears his cry and he goes home justified.

Could it be that our moral topography is no less rigid or flat than that of the Pharisee and no less under-whelming or deserving than that of the tax collector. All of us sin and fall short of the glory of God, Paul told the Roman church. (Rom 3:23)

Regardless of how we pray, how we work, how we give, we cannot earn our way into God’s kingdom. Like the tax collector in this case God chooses to provide us with the ultimate reversal of fortune.
These two prayers are not meant to be examples of how to pray or not to pray, but they are meant to show us that God, the ultimate judge is also our Savior.

Hopefully, it will be before we stand before the final judgment seat of God that we can see how God’s grace and Christ’s love have come into this world to show us the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus said, no one comes to the father except through him.

Whether we are the good one, the church council member, the tither, the one who lives by the law or the one who struggles, who sins and falls short – only God has the solution, only God has the answer.
I encourage you to celebrate God’s love and forgiveness today in the eating of the bread and drinking of the wine. As we once again die to sin, God wants us to see every day as a new day in God’s kingdom.
Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, a Pharisee or a tax collector I pray that you will once again humbly embrace God’s grace and Christ’s love at the foot of the cross.

Amen.

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