Who is Righteous Before God?

Proper25C on Luke 18:9-14

Exegesis: The Pharisee’s prayer of gratitude may be spoken to the Lord, but it is really about himself. He locates his righteousness entirely in his own actions and being. The religious word for that is self-righteousness.

The tax collector, on the other hand, knows that he possesses no means by which to claim righteousness. He has done nothing of merit; indeed, he has done much to offend the law of Israel. For this reason, he stands back, hardly daring to approach the Temple, and throws himself on the mercy of the Lord.

Here is the essential contrast. One makes a claim to righteousness based on his own accomplishments, while the other relies entirely upon the Lord's benevolence. Rather than be grateful for his blessings, the Pharisee appears smug to the point of despising others. In his mind, there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the immoral, and he is grateful that he has placed himself among the righteous. The tax collector, on the other hand, isn't so much humble as desperate. He is too overwhelmed by his plight to take time to divide humanity into sides. All he recognizes as he stands near the Temple is his own great need. He therefore stakes his hopes and claims not on anything he has done or deserved but entirely on God's mercy.

It does not appear to be accidental that this exchange takes place at the Jewish Temple. On the grounds of the Temple, you were always intimately aware of who you were, of what status you had, of what you could expect from God. There were, at the Temple, "insiders" and "outsiders," and according to these rules there was no question of where the Pharisee and tax collector stood. But when Jesus dies, all of this thinking changes. As the gospels report, the curtain in the Temple is torn in two (Luke 23:45), symbolically erasing all divisions of humanity before God. That act is prefigured here, as God justifies not the one favored by Temple law, but rather the one standing outside the Temple gate, and aware only of his utter need. His utter need is to be right with God.

Human Condition there and then: The logical best response to the occupation of a politically and spiritually foreign power is that you try to stick it out in the community, and try to bring your faith and your tradition into that community as best you can, without fighting back in such a way that you compromise the very ideals that you’re trying to uphold.

This is the hard path. This is the most difficult option. This is the tough and often mundane, hard-working alternative, where you just plug away over the years by teaching the truth, by being distinct in your dress in your speech, and by showing integrity in your dealings with people, such that it testifies to the faith that is in you.

This is the path that was taken by the Pharisees, and while we know that Jesus gave them a hard time, we know too that of all the different groups that took these different paths, the Pharisees were the only group that Jesus extensively communicated with at all!

They were in the world but not of it! They were distinctively religious people who knew who they were and what they were all about. They were the pillars of their community, as historically had been, the people that had held that community together. And so, when the Pharisee stands up and prays, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector’ he is surely simply telling the truth. He is not like other men. And he certainly was nothing like this sorry representative of humanity tax-collector.

The tax-collector was a collaborator. He was one of those wretched individuals who had seen (in the tragic occupation of his people) an opportunity to make money!

Let it be sufficiently said that these people were the drug-pushers of that time period. They were people who made all their money out of other peoples’ misery. And so, when we’re told that the tax-collector stood near the back of the temple, bowed his head and beat his chest praying, “God have mercy on me, a sinner”, what more would we have expected him to say? He’s praying the only prayer that he’s got!

Human Condition here and now: We are the Pharisee.  In public, we make statements in our churches like “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free for all are one in Christ Jesus,” yet make judgments day to day about those who have different levels of income or education and those who act in a way that we think is not moral.  We are upset by the decisions of our brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers as though we should be making those decisions for them. All too often we are just like the Pharisee. We know that we are better than other women and men, we do consider ourselves superior, we have not sunk to the depths to which others have sunk, and at our better moments we thank God for that.  We congratulate ourselves and praise only the most talented and intelligent folks and as to others, we leave them in the mud as if they are a lesser human being. We pick favorites among our children according to our own standards as if that ought to be the measuring stick. We fail to act as God has shown that all of humanity is worthy of our dignity and respect.  Our churches are divided over whether or not homosexuality is a sin as well as whether or not women should be allowed to teach and preach to men. Women are trained and ready to be priests in churches that do not allow women to become priests. Other countries see universal healthcare as a no-brainer, but many in this country are against it.

Proclamation: So where do we go from here?  How do we rid ourselves of our prejudices and try to see things from a different perspective?  First of all, we acknowledge them. How can we do better?  Research the social ills of the day and get together with others to address them. How do we, in the least, withhold judgement?  Get to know the people around you and their perspective on situations in our world. One of the most difficult phenomenon to deal with in today’s schools is that of bullying.  This is something we see in our schools at a very early age.  One of the solutions to this in times past was to fight back and sometimes this resulted in fist fights and black eyes. Children would get hurt both physically and emotionally.  For some, this is still the solution, the thoughts go like this, “If I beat the crap out of him, he won’t bother me anymore.”  Then, “Why should I tell a teacher?  I can handle it myself.” The bully always feels he or she has a right to assert dominance and to make fun of other children.  We should never ignore violent and emotional abuse. This is a problem that we as Christians need to address.  If we could work on just this one thing and keep working on it, the world would be a much better place to live.  It is up to adults to be a good example and model of how to live respecting other people, even those with which we disagree. And if children want to join in, we should welcome them.  They, too have an understanding of what is right and wrong and should be encouraged to participate in working towards the dignity and respect of all people.  We need to teach our children how to treat others in the same way they would like to be treated, to point out when things are far from equal.  We should be encouraging them to be in places with other children, like at summer camp and to befriend those who have no friends, teaching them social skills to make connections with others. We are to do what we can to correct the ills of society.

            Yes, we are much like the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable of long ago, but only God can justify us and make us whole, therefore we should always pray in deep humility, “Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a poor miserable sinner and help me once more to walk in your grace.”