"I Have Something to Tell You" Sincerely, God

Luke 18:9-14

I am sure you have heard of the saying: “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” This phrase is about 95% accurate with a few exceptions. Those exceptions, and I’m sure some of the youth will agree with me, occur with school books. But there is one insist in which the phrase “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is 100% accurate. I think you know which bounded collections of books I’m talking about. Yes the Bible.

In Luke’s Gospel message to us this morning there are many twists and turns that take place. Jesus’ parable is anything boring. Jesus’ parable begins: “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt,” and ends: “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Between the beginning and the end, Jesus flips and twists the parable around.

Jesus uses two characters, a Pharisee and a tax collector. These two characters are supplied with stereotypical descriptions. A Pharisee was seen as a righteous, law abiding citizen who followed moral as well as ethical codes and commandments. Society respected a Pharisee just as Norman the pig in our children’s message. Norman was respected by others around him because he was clean cut, organized, never got into trouble, and gave money to the poor. A tax collector on the other hand was not respected. Rather a tax collector was one who was viewed as corrupt, one who cheated people of their money, and religiously unclean. Society shunned a tax collector just like Sidney the pig was shunned. Sidney was always disheveled in appearance, unorganized, and couldn’t do anything right.

Both the Pharisee and the tax collector begin to believe and internalize these descriptions of themselves to the extreme. The Pharisee knows that he is righteous and he verbally pronounces his goodness to God. He tells God, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rouges, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” Did you notice how many times you heard the word “I?” There are four “I” statements in this in these two verses alone. The Pharisee is not really praying as much as he is telling God about his goodness and at the same time looking down on other people. The Pharisee is exalting himself to a higher status.

Norman the pig does the same thing. Norman followed the rules, his teachers and bosses always liked him, he gave money to the poor, but he was looking down others. Norman is puffing himself up.

The tax collector on the other hand internalizes an unrighteous self-image. He stands far off, can’t even raise his eyes up to heaven, and he beats upon his breast, a sign of deep sorrow, and says to God, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” While the Pharisee asks nothing of God in his prayer and boasts about his goodness, the tax collector boasts nothing before God and self-designates himself as a sinner. The tax collector does not exalt himself, rather he admits to his short-comings, placing himself on an even lowlier status.

Sidney is like the tax collector. Sidney can’t do anything right, he is unorganized, believes God is frustrated with him, and seems to always get into trouble. Sidney believes that he is an unworthy person.

Now here comes the twist to the story. You would think that a righteous Pharisee would receive God’s blessing and the tax collector would receive God’s judgment. But that is not the case. Jesus tells us that the tax collector “went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The Pharisee may be righteous in his actions, but he is not truly righteous for he is also a sinner. The tax collector may be a sinner, but he is also righteous in his prayer for forgiveness.

Jesus’ parable makes clear what true righteousness is and “distinguishes it from misplace pride in obedience to God’s commandments.” Zacharias and Elizabeth are an example of true righteousness. Luke 1:6 explains that they “were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” The Pharisee was not blameless in his obedience to God. Now the tax collector was not blameless before the Lord either, but the tax collector recognizes his sin, asks for forgiveness, and does not condemn others in the process. The Pharisee is given just judgment and humbled by God. The tax collector is given just judgment and exalted by God.

To put this a little more concretely let’s look again at Norman and Sidney. Both Norman and Sidney received an invitation from God that read: “I would like you to come visit me at 77 Elm Street next Tuesday at your convenience. I have something to tell you.” Norman felt a familiar feeling upon reading the invitation: Anticipation. Happiness. Pride. Sidney also felt a familiar feeling upon reading his invitation: Terror. Panic. Doom.

When Norman went to meet with God that Tuesday he was excepting a reward for his goodness, but instead of a reward God told Norman exactly what he needed to hear. God said: “First of all I love you. Secondly, your goodness is not the reason I love you. Thirdly, you’re not as good as you have led yourself to believe. You’re prideful. You’re selfish. You look down on others, simply because things don’t come as easily for them.” God continues to tell Norman that God loves others who are not as perfect just as much as God loves Norman.

When Sidney went to meet with God he was expecting to be punished, but instead of a punishment God told Sidney exactly what he needed to hear. God said: “First of all I love you. Secondly, I love you. And thirdly I love you.”

Norman was humbled by the experience and made to realize that his pride in his “goodness” was his sin. Sidney was exalted by the experience and made to realize that while he is not perfect God still loved him. At the end of the story the two pigs who once avoided each other, now became good friends.

Each one of us here is a Pharisee and each one of us here is also a tax collector. We are not perfect, and there is no such thing as a “good pig.” We are all broken. God doesn’t love us any greater because of the awards we receive or the good behavior we perform and God doesn’t love us any less because we mess up. God simply loves us for who we are as God’s children.
In Calvin’s section on prayer, he list 4 Rules of Right Prayer. The first rule is to have “a composed mind and heart.” The second rule is to have “a sincere sense of our own insufficiency.” The third rule is to “abandon all self-glory, self-assurance, and have a reliance on God’s mercy and pardon.” And the last rule is to have “a sure hope that all our prayers are answered.”
God has invited each of us here this something because God has something to tell us. Let us be open to what God has to say that we might repair a right relationship with God and with our neighbors.

Just as God tells us: “I love you not because of your good works and in spite of all your messes,” I invite you to your neighbor, those sitting around in the pews and tell them: I love you not because of your good works and in spite of all your messes.

To God be all glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.