Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Luke 18:9-14

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the world measures the goodness and worth of a person based upon what they do. Indeed who do you want? A person who is a failure, who makes mistakes left and right who cannot be trusted to get the most basic and simple things right, or do you want someone who is competent, able, and gifted? There are many who believe this also applies to religion, and that God will bless those who are able, gifted and rich as opposed to the weak, the helpless and those that the world sees as worthless, but they misunderstand the entire purpose of God’s Word, and Holy Scripture.

So Jesus tells this parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to show who understands what God has spoken through the prophets and the apostles. Many people are like the Pharisee and believe that they will be able to stand before God based upon the life they have lived. Now this has to do with the teaching of Law and Gospel, which is an important distinction and if you do not understand the difference between these two teachings the Bible will remain forever a closed book to you.

Now let us look at the the two men here, the text tells us at the very start that Jesus tells this parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. This is the sin of pride, and they have faith in themselves, well what does that look like? The Pharisees prayer is that he gives thanks to God that he is not like other men, and he lists off a series of sins that he has not practiced and sinners that he is not like. He then holds up before the Lord his works, he fasts regularly, he gives tithes of all he gets. In the eyes of the world he would consider to be quite godly.

Now we need to be clear what the problem here with this man is the problem is not that he is avoiding sins, nor that he is giving 10% of his income to the temple, the problem is that he trusts and boasts in himself and thinks himself better than others because of it.

Now the other man who is there is a tax collector, and the tax collectors were hated at that time because they collected taxes for the Romans who had taken away Israel and Jerusalem from the Jews. But they were to also take their wages from the people as well. They were despised, but this man is ashamed of himself and his works and had nothing to boast of before God, but was throwing his fate solely upon God’s Mercy.

The man who people regarded as a vile and detestable sinner went down to his house justified, not because of what He had done, for he had done nothing, but because he trusted in God’s mercy.

That is an important difference that we must maintain, the issue is not that the Pharisee is doing Good works, we are told in other places in Scripture, like in our Epistle Lesson, that we are God’s Workmanship created to do Good works. However, our Good works will not get us into heaven, this parable was told to tear down any one who trust in their works and thought it made them a good person.

For pride is a deadly sin that starts to build up in the hearts of men, and people become proud when they begin to compare themselves with their neighbor. The Pharisee is quite boastful that he is better than all these other sinners, and that as he looks around he thinks he is a good person, but he only believes that because he does not understand God’s Law.

If you ask most folks in the world if they are a good person they will say they are, if you ask them well does that mean you don’t make mistakes, they will compare themselves to others. This is the very same thing that happened with Adam and Eve, when Adam had sinned he tried to show how Eve was a worse sinner than he was, when we get caught doing something wrong, we try to blame someone else. We try to prove that we are good by comparing ourselves to those who are worse. How many times have we done this trying to pass the blame by pointing out someone else’s flaws?

That is what the Pharisee was doing, he looked around and he saw all these sinners and thought well I’m much better than these people so I must be a good person and God must be pleased with me. No. For God does not compare you with your neighbor. When you stand before Him He will not measure your goodness on the basis of how bad other people are.

When God measures how good you are, Jesus said that you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, so whether or not you are good depends on how well you measure up to God. That is why the tax collector is weeping, he understands what God has said in His law, and he doesn’t measure up, he is not worthy of heaven.

There are many who think that because they are decent people or at least better than their neighbors that they are a good person and God will let them into heaven. But they are using the wrong measuring stick, because when they are compared with God’s righteousness, they may not commit the same sins as other people, but they aren’t good enough. Now this is the perhaps of God’s Law, it is meant to strip away any belief of goodness in yourself. For anyone who goes around believing that they will go to heaven because they are a good person, will end up in hell.

It doesn’t matter how many people’s lives you touch, it doesn’t matter how much you give to the church, it doesn’t matter how many minutes you devote to reading God’s Word, loving your family, caring for the poor, the hungry, or the sick, how much money you make or how famous you are, you will not be perfect as God is perfect. That is why the Tax Collector is beating his breast, and he throws himself upon the only hope that he has, the steadfast love and mercy of God.

It is the gospel this bit of good news that sounds too good to be true, that even though you do not measure up in anyway that you are guilty that you deserve all temporal and eternal punishment, that those who rely solely upon the mercy of God for forgiveness will be saved. In one aspect it is terrifying for imagine confessing to a judge that you have committed the worst of crimes and that you not only deserve jail, but the death sentence, while you a sinner, one who has been opposed to God by your sins, then hear those blessed words, You are forgiven. Not because of anything you have done, but because of what God has done for you.

This sounds too simple, too easy, and you wonder what is the catch? Will God keep holding my sins over my head, and keep me at arms length, is it a trick, why on earth would God who is holy righteous, and perfect do this? The Father forgave you for the sake of his only-begotten Son. Who shed His blood for you, there is the terrible cost of sin, there is what was required that you might be forgiven, that the sinless Son of God had to die, and at first that might terrify you because what would you do if had to suffer on account of someone else? Will Jesus bear a grudge against you for the punishment he bore for your sake, but the answer is no. Jesus is there because he loves you, His blood was shed, because he loves you, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit, because he loves you. That’s the reason you, a sinner, are saved, the reason you are showed mercy, the reason that heaven is yours is because Jesus loves you. There is nothing for you to do, for Jesus himself said, it is finished. Christ has saved you.

So you might wonder well what about Good works? What role do they play un terms of your salvation? None, the only works that matter for your salvation are Christ’s Works for you. Let Christ’s works be enough to save you and trust in them. God doesn’t need your good works so instead they ought to benefit your neighbor who is in need. Don’t extort people, but rather help them keep what they have and use it rightly. Don’t be unjust, but treat others well, don’t commit adultery but rather honor your neighbor with decency. Should you fast, do it to focus on Christ, and when you tithe don’t do it so that everyone at church likes you or it makes it so you are more well liked, tithe because its the right thing to do, and you want the Word of God to be shared by Pastors through Church service and Bible Study, that you and others might continue to receive God’s gifts. For indeed when the Church tithes, it may surprise you but it makes us all equal in our support of the kingdom of God. That we are all equally contributing out of what God has given to us, which reminds us that none of us are better or worse than another, but we are all equal.

So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, should pride ever tempt you to think about how you are a better person than your neighbor, remember that God will judge you according to His Holiness, and that ought to drive all of us to our knees, beating our breast. When you are there remember God’s love for you, remember how Christ shed his Blood for you, and trust in His mercy alone, for Jesus loves you and His love will save you. In Jesus name. Amen.