NOT A LEG TO STAND ON
Luke 18:9-14
The parable of The Pharisee and the Publican, in today’s lectionary, is called the Pharisee and a tax collector. Some of you have heard four or five, maybe nine or ten, or even more sermons on this text. It’s very familiar.
It’s a bible story so familiar to all of us, and seemingly, so simple, that maybe it doesn’t seem to need any more explanation. I read it, you all heard it, and we might want to respond with that modern expression, “Duh!” - like, “This is a no-brainer.” (Duh, by the way, made it’s way into Webster’s dictionary a couple of years ago).
We’ve heard that this is a story about the sin of pride – would you just look at that proud Pharisee! We’ve heard that this is about how to pray. Maybe it’s about how to worship, or about the value of humility? I even heard that this is about whether a good Christian should go to the front or stay in back of the church - many possibilities here.
In reading the German theologian, Helmut Thielicke, I have often learned that we need to look beyond the normal and the obvious. In this book, The Waiting Father, sixteen sermons on parables that Jesus told, Thielicke says there is always a deeper meaning to the stories than what seems normal and obvious. Today I will use his lead into a deeper understanding of this parable – The Pharisee and the tax collector.
I think it’s fair to say that we have been led not to like the Pharisee – and that may be somewhat unfortunate – because many Pharisees, and especially this one, was really a good guy! He probably went to Temple very regularly. He probably kept all the Mosaic laws – gave alms, said his prayers and gave 10% of his income. Maybe he also belonged to several community service clubs, served on the local school board and ran an honest business. He did have a lot to be proud of. There’s no doubt that he was an admired and respected man – a good guy! But we don’t like him.
It’s also fair to say that we have been led to like the tax collector. And that’s a bit unfortunate too – because he was, really a bad guy! He was a fellow Jew, but working for Rome – collecting taxes from his fellow Jews, on behalf of Rome. Those collectors usually collected more than Rome required, and kept the margin for themselves – it was like a commission. He probably made no contribution to the Temple, probably never led anything like the Boy Scouts and never participated in any community benefits. He didn’t care at about keeping Jewish Law and he rarely showed up at the Temple. Really, he had no religious practices to be proud of at all. He was a scorned man his community – this was a bad guy! But we like him.
We have to admit – the Pharisee was the better man. Be honest now – if you had to choose, which one would you want in your church? And which one would you want dating your daughter or granddaughter? And which one would you like to sit next to at worship or kneel with at the Lord’s Table?
You can see, that when Jesus announced, “This tax collector went down to his home justified rather than the other,” the listeners were not only surprised, but upset! The Pharisee was the epitome of a religious man. He was the “in” guy. He was a Jew, “par excellent.” And the tax collector was the exact opposite. He was the “out” guy. How could Jesus say, “The tax collector is justified rather than the Pharisee?”
They disliked the judgment – we like it! Why is that? Maybe because we have been taught to dislike the good and the proud and the pious – and we have been taught to like and respect humility. Maybe it’s because many of us always root for the underdog.
It’s like that in baseball. Steinbrenner pays the New York Yankee baseball team an annual salary of $183,000,000. Just one of his players, Alex Rodriquez is paid $26,000,000. That’s only one million less than the $27,000,000 paid to the entire Milwaukee Brewers team. One Yankee player is paid about the same as a whole team? Makes it very hard for this guy to root for theYankees.
If Rodriguez plays every game of the season he will play in 162 games. If he makes 5 plays at third base in every game and comes to bat 5 times at every game, he will be involved in 1,620 plays. According to my math, he is paid $16,000 each time he makes a 3rd base play and $16,000 each time he is at bat. Is there something wrong with this picture?” Yes, it’s easy to understand why we root for the underdog.
Back to the parable. Look at this parable as though we were looking at some pictures in an old family album. We’ve looked at all of these pictures before - but this time we notice some different things. “Hey, I never noticed that Harold was so handsome. Was Susie really that little? I didn’t know George had a mustache.
What, “new stuff” might we see in this parable?
Notice that the Pharisee and the tax collector had a few things in common:
Both men want to stand before God. Granted, the Pharisee wants to stand before God by being better than thieves and rogues and adulterers, and even like that tax collector in back of the Temple. Luke says he thanked God for that – and that should b e to his credit. He also lists a litany of things that he does – fasts twice a week when only once was required and gives a tenth of his income. He wants to stand before God on the basis of who he is and what he is doing. I guess, to thank God is one thing, but when he parades his blessing around, making others look small, and turns his nose a fellow worshipper in the back of the Temple, then he comes across to us as an obnoxious and insensitive braggart – and we don’t like that.
The tax collector wants to stand before God too. We only know that he was a tax collector, despised as a racketeer by other Jews, and that he brings with him, the simple knowledge that he was a sinner. And he prays for only one thing – God’s mercy, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” – that looks like humble and sincere repentance to us - and we like that.
Both men also make a moral judgment about themselves. The Pharisee judges himself to be a pretty worthwhile human being – the tax collector judges himself to be a sinner. An old translation renders it, “I am the sinner!
How do these two men arrive at those different conclusions about themselves?
It really may be pretty simple – and this is important!
The Pharisee drew these good conclusions about himself by comparing himself to other people. Did you notice that? “Lord, I thank you that I am not like other people.” When any of us compare ourselves with other people, it’s pretty easy to pick out those people who make us look real good. “I may not be the best father in the world, but I’m sure better than Sam! I may not be the best Christian in the community, but I’m certainly better than most.” The Pharisee was, a very good person. And when he compared himself to others, why he was bound to look, not only good, but very good.
The problem is that God doesn’t judge us this way.
And the tax collector didn’t measure himself that way. He must have measured himself by the standard of God, because he concluded that he is a sinner. If the Pharisee had measured himself by God’s standard, then this would have been his conclusion too. When looking at what God expects, all the tax collector could say was, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” He didn’t have a leg to stand on.
That’s when Jesus made that startling judgment: “This man went down to his home justified, rather than the other.” Notice again, the word, rather! It doesn’t say that he was justified – but he, rather than the other – he had a better chance.
Why? Because only God can justify a sinner!
The disciples were in a similar situation one time and they found themselves asking, “If being justified is that difficult, who in the world be saved? That’s when Jesus answered them, “With man it is impossible – with God, all things are possible!” That’s the way it is – we human beings can’t do the saving. Before others we can look pretty good, but before God, we haven’t a leg to stand on - only God can save a sinner.
So we sing “The Rock of Ages” phrase - “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” This is the way you and I come to God, this is the way you and I come to Church, this is the way you and I come to the Lord’s Table, and this is the way you and I live our lives. None of us have a leg to stand on – not the Pharisee who was a super good man, not the tax collector who was a super sinner, and not any of us who are here today – none of us have a leg to stand on.
I think the first verse in our gospel today is a super important part of the story. “Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous!” That’s the point. Many of the Pharisees trusted in themselves, and that doesn’t work.
The tax collector trusted only on the mercy of God.
You can’t trust yourself for salvation. To continue the hymn, “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill thy law’s demands. Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone – Thou must save, and Thou alone.”
So there is, really, no need for us to compare ourselves with others to look good. We may be as good as the Pharisee or as bad as the tax collector. The truth is that both of them, and all of us, are sinners – none of us have a leg to stand on.
In the end (and isn’t this beautiful?), the focus of this story is not on the Pharisee or the tax collector, and it’s not on you and me, and on how we all stack up.
In the end, the spotlight is on the one who gives salvation as His gift of mercy. We look to, commune with, and worship the One Who makes the sun to shine on the good and the bad, the One Who offers himself to all of us sinners in this life, and in the life to come.
