Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Today Jesus teaches us of the two kinds of righteousness that we need in this life. We need righteousness before men. Without this, you will have a miserable life here on earth. And we need the righteousness that avails before God. Without this, you have no hope of life in heaven. As an example of each kind of righteousness, Jesus presents us with the Pharisee and the tax collector. Looking around the room this morning, I’ll be honest: I don’t see any tax collectors here today. I see all Pharisees, every last one of you. And before anyone gets offended, understand that I’m paying you a high compliment.

The Pharisee had righteousness before men. This is commendable. You should make every effort to follow his example, and I can see that you have. The Pharisee represents the most excellent, honorable, and righteous people who with all seriousness have devoted themselves to serving God and keeping the Law. Don’t knock the Pharisee for this. We should praise him as Jesus does concerning his upstanding life.

The Pharisee begins his prayer by thanking God. He recognizes that every good thing in his life comes from God. By putting God first, he is keeping the First Commandment. He thanks God for preserving him from great shame and vice. He does not take the Lord’s name in vain, but uses the name of God to pray, praise, and give thanks. He also keeps the Third Commandment, observing the Sabbath as a day of prayer.

Then he proceeds to the second table of the Law: love for his neighbor. He is not unjust or a thief. He can boast before all the world that he has not wronged or violated anyone. “I thank you God that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, and adulterers” (Lk 18:11). He has kept the Sixth Commandment, fleeing adultery and living a chaste and decent life. What’s more, he keeps a tight reign on his body by fasting twice a week. And finally, beyond all this, he gives a tenth of all he has honestly and honorably earned. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get” (Lk 18:11–12).

The Pharisee is no villain. He is the most upstanding man in the church and the community, and for good reason. We need more men like this in our churches. The world needs men like this in society. Nothing about his visible life and deeds can be faulted. Instead, he is to be commended in every way. He has righteousness before men.

Now, in contrast to the Pharisee, consider the tax collector, and you will find nothing of virtue in his life. When Jesus speaks of the final step of excommunication in Matthew 18, He says, “If a man refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector” (Mt 18:17). Today a man might work for the IRS and be a devout Christian. Not so in New Testament times. A modern day equivalent of a tax collector could be a porn star. There is no possible way to have this job and be a Christian. The tax collector lived in open sin and vice, serving neither God nor his fellow man, devoting himself entirely to robbing, fleecing, and harming his neighbor. To be a tax collector was to be outside the fellowship of the church, estranged from God and man, an openly unbelieving and godless heathen. The tax collector was completely devoid of righteousness before men. Thanks be to God that we have no tax collectors in this room.

But what Jesus says next absolutely turns the tables on everything common sense tells us about how religion should work. What Jesus says next is one of the most offensive claims of Christianity, and the sort of preaching that got Him killed. The One who will judge the living and the dead on the Last Day, tells us how he runs his courtroom, saying, “I tell you, the wicked tax collector went down to his house righteous before God, and not the Pharisee” (Lk 18:14).

This is where many people would say, “Stop the train of Christianity and let me off. These are the words of Jesus? Isn’t being a good person the whole point of the Christian faith? Aren’t we supposed to be kind and loving? Then why does Jesus say that the wicked tax collector goes home justified and not the righteous Pharisee?” If these questions make you squirm a bit in your seat, that’s a good thing. It means that you are wresting with the central issue of the Christian faith: Righteousness before men, though good and necessary it this life, can never make you righteous before God.

Outward righteous will make your neighbor love you, but it can never make God love you. That’s the fatal flaw in the Pharisee’s thinking. He expects that his good works for his neighbors will get him into heaven. Surely his outwardly perfect life will swing wide those pearly gates. Right? Wrong. Man looks at the outward. God looks at the heart.

Earlier I said that I see only righteous Pharisees in this room. That’s because I’m a man. I can’t see the heart. I can only see your outward lives, and though nobody is perfect, for the most part you’re all doing great. You love your neighbors, generally speaking. You don’t commit gross outward sins. You’re not tax collectors or prostitutes. You honor God. You come to church. You live good Christian lives, just like the Pharisee. You are to be commended!

But don’t think for a moment that by doing all these things God will love you more. Don’t imagine that these good works will get you into heaven. God sees what your neighbor can’t: He sees your heart, your hidden motives, your secret, shameful thoughts. Did the Pharisee actually have love in his heart for his neighbor as he prayed, “Thank you God that I am not like this tax collector”? Of course not. Outwardly righteous, but inwardly full of evil lusts and every uncleanness. I can’t see your sinful heart, but I can say from the Word of God and my own human experience that it’s in the same condition: deceitfully wicked above all things. Who would dare to offer up the works that flow from such a corrupt heart and demand entrance to heaven? No one who hopes to saved.

Outwardly you are to be the Pharisee, but inwardly, you must be the tax collector. Does this mean you should go out and live a sinful life? No. Don’t do anything. Simply admit to the corruption that has existed in your heart from birth. As far as your neighbors can tell, you’re a good person, as you should be. But inwardly, you know the truth: you are the wicked tax collector, deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” If that is your prayer, then Jesus says that you will go home from church today righteous before God. How? Because of the righteousness that comes, not by works, but by faith. Your feeble good works could never open heaven’s doors. But the perfect life and obedient death of Jesus can and has. His righteousness is your new birthright, granted to you in the saving waters of Holy Baptism. Clothed in this white garments, you can dare to look up to heaven, fully expecting to be granted entrance. Why? Because God is merciful to you.

Righteousness before men is wonderful and necessary in this life. But righteousness before God can never be earned. It can only be received. And by faith it is already yours. How do we know this? Because Jesus has promised never to turn away a sinner who comes to him asking for mercy. That was our prayer at the beginning of the service: “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy upon us.” Jesus always hears and answers this prayer. Today, you can be certain that you too will go down to your house justified and righteous before God. Amen.