Sermon for Sunday, July 22, 2007

SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS EXPOSED

6^th in a series on Tell Me A Story: The Subversive Parables of Jesus

by

Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture: Luke 18:9-14

⁹ He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰ "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ 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. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' ¹³ 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!' ¹⁴ 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."

We are today exactly halfway through a series of summer sermons on the parables of Jesus. We said at the beginning that Jesus uses stories and parables to teach about God and about our relationship to God. Some of those stories are so familiar to us that we use them in “secular culture”. There is a recreational vehicle club named the Good Samaritans. We talk about prodigal sons or daughters as though everyone should know the content of that story—though if Steven Prothero is right in his new book, less and less people have any real knowledge of the Bible and the stories of the Bible.

We said at the beginning that the parables of Jesus usually have a real surprise in them, a twist or even a shock. The first people who heard them would have gasped at certain points in his stories. The parables were subversive. They turned conventional thinking upside down. When Jesus told about a land owner who hired people at various times during the day, the audience just knew that the man would pay the workers who worked all day more than the people who started at three in the afternoon and just worked four  hours. But that is not how Jesus told the story—they were all paid the same.

And when Jesus told of a man who was robbed and beaten going from Jerusalem to Jericho and two religious leaders passed him by, the crowd just knew, just KNEW that the next person would be a faithful and humble Jewish lay man who would see the needy man and stop to help him. So they were shocked and outraged to hear Jesus say that the hero of the story was their bitter enemy, a Samaritan. The words “good” and “Samaritan” did not go together for them.

When Jesus told of a man who gave a dinner party and was “stood up” by the elite group he first invited, the crowd would have been shocked to hear Jesus say that the people who did sit at the table were the nobodies—poor people, people with disabilities and no social standing. They would have been offended when he told them that the feast of the kingdom of God looked like this complete with crutches and wheelchairs and people with Alzheimer’s around the dinner table.

And the story for next week is really scandalizing because Jesus tells about a dishonest household manager who gets fired but just before he leaves, he contacts people who owe his boss money and he lowers the amount they owe so he will have friends now when he is out of work and looking for employment—and Jesus says we need to learn from this man!!!

The story for today is unsettling as well. We need to remember before we take it apart that it is in the Gospel of Luke. We said last week that most of Jesus’ parables appear in only two of the four gospels. Luke is one of them. The other one is Matthew. We said there are some major themes in Luke. Jesus in Luke is on the side of the poor and the vulnerable. Jesus is always eating with people—all kinds of people—the wrong kind of people. Folks accused Jesus of being a drunkard and a glutton; he was so well known for being at feasts and parties with Pharisees and with outcasts. And in Luke’s gospel, Jesus punctures pomposity and self righteousness and lifts up the lowly.

I forgot last week to mention one other example of that. In the beginning of the gospel of Luke, we get a preview of all those themes in a song that Mary, the mother of Jesus, sings when Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is also pregnant. This is in the first chapter of Luke.

After the two women have greeted each other, Mary sings a song. It is a protest song. We call it the Magnificat because it begins with the words, “My soul magnifies the Lord, praise the Lord”. Then, the song makes some predictions. First she says that the Lord has looked on the lowliness of his servant meaning her self. Lowliness is quickly identified as a theme in this gospel.

Then she predicts that the child she is carrying will cause some reversals, some upside down occurrences. “God now already has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”

This protest song was good news if you were where the majority of Jesus audience was—poor and powerless and on the fringes. It was bad news if you were self satisfied and out of touch and thinking only about yourself. 

That is where the first man in this story was for today. Jesus tells this story about two men who went to the temple to pray—a Pharisee and a tax collector.

Now, only with that one sentence, the audience is already strongly on the side of one of those characters. Do you feel identity with one of those yet? The first listeners were immediately on the side of the Pharisee who represented, for them, the faithful, conscientious Jewish lay leaders. They were like the folks who are here every Sunday in worship and who teach Sunday school and give generously and try to live upright lives. Unfortunately, the Pharisees often followed the rules too strictly and obeyed just the letter of the law without the spirit of the law – at least that is how Jesus perceived them. Jesus has his harshest words ever in the Bible about the Pharisees. He calls them hypocrites who talk about one way and actually live a different way—sort of like the Senator in the news last week who had been advocating for family values while he was cheating on his wife.

So when you and I hear only the first sentence and think of Pharisees as legalists and hypocrites, the first listeners identified with the Pharisees. And when Jesus said the other man was a despised tax collector, his listeners silently booed under their breath. Tax collectors were “traitorous parasites” who were agents for Roman oppressors and who made money by over charging their fellow Jews for all the Roman taxes they collected. They were the lowest scum of the earth. By the way, one of the scandalous things Jesus does early in his ministry when he is calling his disciples to be with him has to do with a tax collector. Remember?

He invited a hated tax collector to be one of his twelve friends and students. The man’s name was Matthew or Levi.

Jesus sets up today’s story with one sentence, and the audience was even thinking, “How could a tax collector even dare to go into the temple??”  They knew the more religious man would be the hero of the tale.

Catholic scholar Dom Crossan says if Jesus told the story today it would go like this: “A pope and a pimp went to St Peter’s Cathedral to pray”

Did you hear what the Pharisee says in his prayer? One writer says it is not really a prayer, it’s a résumé. “Look at me God. Look at all the good things I have done. Aren’t you impressed with me?”

The other person in the temple is off in a corner by himself. His prayer is not a résumé; it is a baring of his soul. That is more like a prayer. Ann Lamott says there are only two prayers really. I think this story might disagree with her. It might add a third kind of prayer.

The two important prayers Lamott says are, “Help me! Help me! Help me”, and “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you.” Today’s parable might add one more that says to God, “Please forgive me”. It is the same theme of confession that is in the call to worship from Psalm 51 which is said to be the words of King David after he has repented for breaking four of God’s commandments in his relationship with Bathsheba: “Have mercy on me O God. Wash me from my wrongdoing. Create a clean heart in me and renew a right spirit within me.”

The tax gatherer is probably more appealing to us, but let me ask: what if this is all he does—come to the temple to tell God he is sorry and then it stops there and he goes out to keep on cheating and gouging. Is that sufficient? We received copies of the book on forgiveness I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I commend it to you. Some folks who talk about forgiveness in a relationship say that forgiveness starts with remorse—recognizing the wrong we have done, but there is more to it than just remorse, more than just feeling bad and saying we are sorry. Some say remorse is the beginning and that there also needs to be repentance (turning in a new direction and not repeating the offense) and even restitution-doing something to pay for, make up for what we have done wrong. Remorse. Repentance. Restitution. All of these are important when we ask for forgiveness.

We talked last week about another tax collector Jesus associated with who did all three of those. When Jesus sees little Zaccheus up in the tree in Jericho and invites himself to Zaccheus’ house for dinner, Zaccheus does a turnaround.  But look at what else Zaccheus does. He says, “If I have ever cheated or overcharged anyone (the crowd rolled their eyes!), I will pay them back four times as much.” He also said he would give half of his wealth to the poor.

Zaccheus not only felt remorse; he not only repented and turned a new direction; he made restitution. That is what forgiveness at its best can bring about: remorse, repentance and restitution.

Jesus doesn’t tell us that much about this man in the temple because I think he is contrasting two things in the story—arrogance and humility before God.

We may identify more with the humility of the second man, but we have some things in common with the first man. Writer John Indermark says, we just say the Pharisee’s prayer a little differently: “I thank you God that I am not like those Muslim extremists or those fundamentalists or those secular humanists or those loony liberals or….” Has anyone here ever said that to themselves about someone else we think is so different and so wrong? I have.

Jesus tells the story to point out the difference between arrogance and humility. He is saying that it is easy to become arrogant and overly proud and trust only in our own uprightness. He is reinforcing what the prophet Micah says in one of the memory verses I hope you are familiar with:

WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF US BUT TO DO JUSTICE, TO PRACTICE KINDNESS AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD.

“Humbly” is the key word here. Who do you think of as an example of humility? Who do you think of who is overly impressed with themselves and appears to be self righteous? Who is an example of excessive pride?

I feel pride very often when I look at all the great things this congregation does. We heard from our youth group this week on their mission trip in New Orleans rebuilding houses damaged in Hurricane Katrina. I felt that when I experienced the wonderful Vacation Bible School program this week and I felt so proud of our leaders and volunteers.

I felt it two weeks ago when our church hosted fifteen other Methodist pastors for three days of training and coaching in how to become a vital and growing congregation and those pastors were so complimentary of the commitment level and the involvement level here and how we encourage folks to be loyal to promises of prayers, presence, gifts and service.

When does pride become excessive pride? When does it turn into arrogance or hubris—the Greek word for arrogance?

Jesus shows us that arrogance and self righteousness in today’s story in the man whose prayer was a resumé. Can it also happen in a group, a family, a church? Can it happen to a country that thinks too highly of itself and thus gets itself into trouble? Some commentators today would say that about our country, that our hubris has led us into what one conservative writer called the worst foreign policy mistake in all of American history—the invasion of Iraq and the ensuing controversy that is now finally being addressed by looking to the bi-partisan Iraq study group’s recommendations that were put on a shelf right after they did their work. What do you think?

When does confidence become arrogance or hubris? When does being sure of oneself turn into self righteousness?

Jesus offers an example of humility before God in the story and says it is this humility that is the beginning of a right relationship with God and perhaps with each other.

And then Luke the gospel writer tells us one more story to reinforce that. People in the crowd are bringing babies to Jesus for him to touch them and bless them. One of the other gospels says they are bringing children but Luke says infants. The disciples try and shoo them away and tell them Jesus is too busy to bother with children. Children are nobodies; they have no status. We all know what Jesus does. He says, let the children be here; don’t stop them because whoever does not receive God’s good news as a child does—that is without pretense and without arrogance and only with humility—whoever fails to have that attitude of humility will not be part of God’s family.

We have wallet cards for you as a reminder of the message of today’s story. The words are from the book of Proverbs.

Arrogance leads to a downfall but humility of spirit brings honor.

Dear God help us to live by those words. Amen.

Discussion Questions

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