Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Two men went to church one Sunday morning to pray. One was a life-long Lutheran. The other was a drug-dealer. As the Lutheran came up to the communion rail he was saying to himself, “I thank God that I come from a good Lutheran family. My grandfather built this church. My father never missed a service. I was baptized, confirmed, and married at this altar. I give generously to the church. I’m respected in the community. Thank God I’m not like this drug-dealer over here. What’s he even doing here? He doesn’t belong in our church!

By now you probably noticed that I’m telling the story the wrong way. There weren’t any Lutherans or drug dealers in Bible times. True enough, but there certainly were what we might regard as the “saints” and the “sinners”. In this parable, Jesus makes a contrast between the very best of the best and the worst scoundrel you could imagine. At that time, there was nobody better, no one more pious or holy, no better example of Christian living than a Pharisee. The Pharisees weren’t the bad guys. They were the most zealous followers of God. They were the “super-Christians.” Many of the Pharisees had committed whole books of the Bible to memory. Some had even memorized the entire Old Testament. They religiously supported the church with their tithes. They gave to the widows and orphans. No one had done more for the church or the community than the Pharisees. And if the Pharisees were rich, it simply meant that God had blessed them because of their righteous living. For example, the Law of Moses required everyone to fast one day a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But the Pharisee in Jesus’ story had gone far and beyond what God required. He fasted not once a year, but twice a week. If you do the math, that would make him 104x more righteous than everyone else. Everyone wanted to be like this Pharisee. Without question, he was the good guy.

And the villain? In Jesus’ day, there was nothing worse than a tax collector. Tax collectors were seen as traitors to the Jewish nation, in league with the Romans invaders. They had betrayed both the people of God and God himself. Tax collectors were outcasts on the same level as prostitutes. On the social ladder, that’s as low as you could go. Now, today, nobody is particularly fond of the taxman, but if your cousin gets a job with the IRS, he won’t be disinherited or kicked out of the family. But what if your cousin became a drug dealer or an adult film star? Well, then there’d be a problem, especially if he had the nerve to show up in church!

As we consider Jesus’ parable this morning, I’d like you to think of the life-long Lutheran and the drug dealer. These are, so to speak, modern-day equivalents of the Pharisee and the tax collector. The one man looked down his nose at his neighbor saying, “Thank God I’m not like him,” while the other, hardly daring even to look up to heaven, could only say, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13b). Jesus tells us that the tax collector went home, forgiven and righteous before God, while the Pharisee did not.

Now which one of these men most resembles you? Are you the righteous man or the wicked sinner? Outwardly, it would seem that all of us have far more in common with the Pharisee than with the tax collector. But before you answer, remember that God doesn’t look at the outward appearance. He looks at the heart. The problem with the Pharisee wasn’t his outward actions. In fact, Jesus wants you to be like the Pharisee outwardly. He wants you to go to church. He wants you to be generous with your money and possessions. He wants you to live a pious and godly life. But in his heart, the Pharisee trusted that all these outward actions would make him righteous before God, and he treated others with contempt (Lk 18:9). He was so confident in his flawless church attendance and tithing record that he had no need for a Savior. Why would he? He wasn’t a sinner like other men. So, back to the question: Which man are you? Are you the self-righteous Pharisee, or are you the sinner who cries out, “God be merciful to me”?

Actually, you are both of these men. On some days, when your sinful nature gets the upper hand, you might easily begin to think, “I am better than my neighbor. I do live a better life. God must be pleased with me because of this and this and this…” I doubt that any Christian would say, “I trust in my own works to get me into heaven.” We know better than to say those words… but we can easily start thinking this way without realizing it. No sooner have we done a good work than the devil is right there to whisper, “We sure did a good job today. Did you notice that we brought flowers to church more than anyone else this year?” Before you know it you are trusting in yourself rather than in Christ, and this is a very dangerous state of mind to be in.

But the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave you there. He is faithful to remind you that you are in actuality a sinner who lives only by the grace of God. Even if you lead an outwardly perfect life – and God wants you to do your best! – you will always have a sinful nature living inside you. You should keep the Ten Commandments. You should come to church and give generously. You should strive to be kind and loving to everyone you meet. But even if you do all these things perfectly, which you won’t, you will always be dependent upon the mercy of God. As long as you live on earth, you will remain a sinner.

Believe me, you don’t need to do anything to become a sinner. You don’t need to go live a wicked life in order to better appreciate God’s mercy. There are some false teachers in the Lutheran church who say, “You can’t truly know the forgiveness of God unless you have committed adultery like me.” That’s a lie from the pit of hell. If you haven’t destroyed your marriage by being unfaithful to your spouse, thank God for being gracious to you. If you aren’t in prison for murder, thank God that your hands didn’t act out the anger that has at times been in your heart.

What should you do to be the sinner who goes home forgiven and righteous before God? You certainly don’t need to try to commit some sins. You’re already over-qualified on that score! Simply admit that what God’s Word says about your wicked and sinful heart is true. As St. Paul writes, we once were slaves to the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, by nature children of wrath, dead in sins and trespasses (Eph 2:3-4). This is the truth concerning every Christian, whether you are baptized as an infant or on your deathbed. To be a Christian means to recognize that all your good works count as nothing before God for salvation, and to cast yourself completely on the mercy of Christ. Whether or not you’ve been a life-long Lutheran, and what a great blessing it is to be taught the faith as a child, you are the tax collector who cries out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The tax collector hardly dared to enter the temple. He stood a long way away, not willing even to look up to heaven. Some days you may feel this way. Perhaps you had a rough week. Maybe you fell back into a sin that you thought you’d conquered. You might say, “I don’t think I should come up to communion today. My faith is weak. I’m really struggling. I don’t feel worthy right now. Next week, perhaps…” In truth, none of us is ever worthy to come up for communion. And if you waited until you felt worthy, you would only have succeeded in becoming the Pharisee. Martin Luther asks, “Who eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ worthily?” His answer is beautiful, “He who believes these words: given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” To need forgiveness, you must be a sinner. And if you are a sinner, then you are exactly who Christ has in mind when he says, “Take. Eat. Take. Drink.” Living a perfect life doesn’t make you worthy to approach the table of our Lord. Faith in Jesus makes you worthy. And it is this faith that cries out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This is the cry that our Lord will never turn away. Therefore, approach the Altar today, not in fear, but in joyful confidence. For Christ has promised to be gracious and merciful to you. Here the thirsty soul may drink from the Fountain of Life. Here the hungry will be filled with good things. And everyone who comes to the table of the Lord in faith will go back to his home forgiven and righteousness before God. Amen.