The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
October 27, 2019
The Church of St.
Paul & Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
October 27, 2019
Year C, Proper 25:
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65
2 Timothy 4:6-8,
16-18
Luke 18:9-14
Imperfect People, Imperfect Prayers
Today’s
gospel lesson picks up right where we left off last week.
Last
time, we heard an odd, and even a little bit amusing, parable about an unjust
judge and a persistent widow.
The widow wears
down – and maybe even threatens – the judge to get the justice, or the
vengeance, that she wants.
Jesus
connected that story to the need for us to pray persistently, reminding us of
the power of persistent prayer.
And
now we pick up with Jesus telling another parable – and we’re informed that
this parable is told to a very specific audience: people “who trusted in
themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”
No
names are mentioned, but we know the type, don’t we?
Today’s
parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector shares some themes with what we
heard last week.
Once
again there are only two people in the story, and their characters are not
clear-cut. We can’t really pick out a “good guy” and a “bad guy.”
Once
again prayer is involved.
And,
once again, the story does not really unfold the way we might expect - and it
definitely does not unfold the way that a first century Jewish audience would
have expected.
Although
the gospels usually depict Pharisees in a negative light, most first century
Jews respected the Pharisees because they were a group within Judaism that was
really committed to righteousness – to holiness - and they worked to get others
to be committed to righteousness – to holiness, too.
In
fact, by fasting twice a week and giving away a tenth of his income, the
Pharisee in today’s parable goes beyond what the Jewish Law calls for. One commentary
I read suggested that first century Jews would have seen the Pharisee in today’s
parable as an almost as a humorous figure, a caricature, a super-holy Pharisee.
Anyway,
we’re told that the Pharisee is praying in the Jerusalem Temple, thanking God
that he’s not a “bad” person like some other people he could name – and, in
fact, does name - including the tax collector who he has spotted also praying
in the Temple, though at a distance.
I
wonder how the Pharisee knew that the other man was a tax collector.
I
doubt he was wearing a tax collector uniform to the Temple.
Maybe
they knew each other?
Well,
let’s look at the other character – the tax collector.
It’s
important to remember that while that Pharisee would have been deeply respected
by most first century Jews, the tax collector would have been despised as a
traitor to his people.
The
tax collector was collecting revenue from the Jews that went to their hated
Roman occupiers.
The
tax collectors earned a living but the cost was being at the receiving end of
disgust and probably even hatred from their own people.
But,
notice that even the despised tax collector is able to pray in the Temple,
though he is far off and apparently so ashamed of himself that he is unable to
look up to heaven while he prayed.
Instead,
he beats his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
And
then Jesus turns his attention back to his audience that was full of themselves
and treated others with contempt, and Jesus declares that it was the traitor
tax collector who was justified and not the self-righteous Pharisee.
You
wonder what the audience thought of that twist ending, right?
Of
course this is a message that many of us need to hear, especially those of us
who are very devoted to the church and might be tempted to get a little judge-y
of others.
And,
that includes me.
You
know, although we’re in a big city sometimes it feels like a little village
around here where we’re constantly bumping into each other on the street – including
people I see nearly every day doing the wrong thing.
It
is sorely tempting for me to make unkind judgments, so this parable reminds me
to not be like the Pharisee – to mind my own business and worry about my own
salvation and let others do the same.
And,
maybe that’s something that others among us need to remember, too.
But,
that’s not the main message I want to share with you today.
As
I’ve been thinking about the Pharisee and the tax collector, I’ve come to see
them both as imperfect people offering imperfect prayers.
Despite
his personal righteousness, the Pharisee has one eye on God and another eye on
the tax collector and others who don’t meet his high standards, revealing him
to be an imperfect person offering an imperfect prayer.
Judging
others and lifting those judgments up to God in prayer is a big imperfection,
right?
And
then there is the tax collector.
His
imperfections would have been all too obvious to the people around him, but his
prayer, for all of its sorrow and shame and breast-beating was imperfect, too.
Yes,
the tax collector begs God for mercy but there is no sign of repentance, no
indication that he is going to change his ways, no recognition that that it was
time to ask God’s help to start a new and, yes, holier life.
Imperfect
people praying imperfect prayers.
Just
like you and me.
Because
we are imperfect people our prayers are imperfect, too, distorted by our own
shortcomings and sins.
But,
God loves both the imperfect Pharisee and the imperfect tax collector – and God
loves imperfect us with our imperfect prayers – and God is able to translate
our imperfect prayers into what is perfectly best for us.
So,
you know, I always like to imagine sequels to Bible stories.
In
this case, maybe God opened the heart of the righteous Pharisee to quit judging
people like the tax collector, even if, especially if, they deserved to be
judged.
Maybe
God helped the Pharisee to go easy on people who are weak, who make bad
decisions, who get stuck by doing the wrong thing.
And,
maybe God opened the heart of the tax collector, giving him the courage to walk
away from his hateful work and to start a new life.
We
don’t know.
But,
we do know that God loves imperfect people and hears our imperfect prayers, and
God is able to translate our imperfect prayers into what is perfectly best for
us.
Amen.
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