Sure of their own righteousness

Reflections Study group

Joy & Helen attended Rev. Geoff New’s seminar on preaching the parables

Geoff has developed, based on the work of Warren Wierbse, and with its roots in Ignatian spiritual disciplines, a way of reading the parables that immerses us deeply in the Living word of God.

We’ve had two sessions so far, and even though these are stories that I’m so familiar with, and even the reflective reading is fairly familiar, I’ve found the group to be refreshing, inspiring and really quite moving.

Today’s reading is the parable that we read through last Monday, and I’d love for you to come on the journey with us.

We will read the story four times, and as we do so, I invite you to reflect on these four things

Looking at the Picture

What is happening in this passage? Who are the characters? Why is Jesus telling this story to them? Why is Luke telling us this story? What happens in the story?

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Who is in this story?

In some ways, the Israel of Jesus’ time was a bit like our society today. There was no one thing you could call “Judaism” in the same way that in today’s society there is no one denmination or set of beliefs that you could describe as “Christianity” or “faith”.

Priesthood, Levites and temple worship. Focused on the rituals of faith, acting as an intermediary between the ordinary people and the Holy of Holies

Sadducees and teachers of the Law. Did not believe in the resurrection. Believed that the Kingdom of God needed to be carved out in the here and now, and perhaps that meant being pragmatic when it came to working with the imperial powers. Did not expect MEssiah to come.

Zealots. Between the time of the Maccebees between 100-200 BC and the sack of Jerusalem in 70AD there were dozens of people who claimed to be the Messiah and sought to imitate the Maccabean revolt and overthrow the imperial oppressors.

Essenes. Super-spiritual recluses. Off in the desert leading a religious life. It is speculated that John the Baptist may have been part of an Essene community. It’s a gross oversimplification but Essenes tended to believe that Messiah would come if just one person could follow the law perfectly on Israel’s behalf.

Pharisees. Believed in the coming Kingdom of God and the physical and spiritual redemption of Israel by the intervention of hte Messiah. Again, an over-simplifcation, but the Pharisees believed that if all of Israel could follow the law, for just onw day, then Messiah would come.

The Tax collector. Fell afoul of all of these people. They were Roman collaborators and profited personally from the misery of their people.

Much like the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus is telling a story that parodies the concerns of his audience and forces them to face the shocking reversal that the God’s love is the exact opposite of what their prejudices would suggest.

Looking in the Mirror

What does this story challenge with us about ourselves?

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

First thing I notice is the audience - “some who were confident of their own righteousness”. We see far too much of that in today’s society. We are becoming more and more polarised, more and more convinced that we are in the right, and others are in the wrong.

Yesterday we had the super Saturday vaccination event. Nearly 130,000 people nationwide were vaccinated. Nearly 2.5% of South Canterbury’s population received a dose of the vaccine yesterday, but on the same day there was a protest in Timaru against the government’s vaccination policies.

Personally, I’m very pro-vax. Being vaccinated is noe small thing that I can do to express love for my neighbour. Every one of us who becomes vaccinated reduces the risk of someone’s loved one ending up in or hospital, or ICU, or worse.

At the same time, I can understand why people would be uncomfortable about government mandates that could cost vaccine hesitant people their livelihoods.

There is no clean, simple, right answer here. COVID has made a mess of our societal expectations and norms, and we need to find a way through, together.

There are people on both sides of this divide who have taken refuge in self-righteousness, bitterness and hate.

Perhaps we are just the sort of audience that Jesus had in mind for this parable.

Perhaps we can begin to find a way through this crisis as we immerse ourselves in the words and the way of Jesus.

Looking through the window

What does this story show us about God?

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The other thing I notice is the tax collector at teh back. Head down, beating their breast. This is more than a caricature. This is an image of ourselves.

We’ve all been there, I suspect. We feel so lost, or hurt, or ashamed taht we can’t even show our face to God. Bt at the same time we have nowhere else to turn. Like Peter said to Jesus when the crowds left him: Where else could we go?

The Good News is this. God is with us there in those moments.

Not as the figure of judgement and punishment that the Pharisee in this story hoped for, but as a compassionate, faithful, gentle comforter and friend. This is the reality of God’s kingdom. Compassion, gentleness and love. Not some competition of who can prove everyone else wrong and themselves right.

Looking through the Door

Where is this story leading us, as we take God’s living word into His living world?

Luke 18:9–14 NIV

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This is not a question tht I can answer for you.

All I can do is to help you pose some more questions:

Which character have you been in this story? The audience who think thay’ve got is figured out in advance? The Pharisee who bolsters their own righteousness by putting others down? The tax collector who has nowhere elese to go?

How is God ministering to you in this story? In your life?

How iwll this story change how you have been seeing those around you, how you treat them?

Will you continue in the spiralling down, dead end of polarisation and hate, or will you participate in the great reversal, and take compassion, gentleness and love with you into God’s world?

Amen