Luke 18:9-14

Hallelujah Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord indeed for in this morning’s first reading we heard that Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 2 verses 8 to 9 the following words: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.

In the second reading we had this morning from chapter 5, verses 7 to 8 of his letter to the Romans, Paul said: Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christians has throughout the ages called the message of Jesus Christ the Gospel, which means the good news. The good news is based on just two very simple facts: The first one is that we are all sinful and separated from God by our sinfulness. Nobody is holy enough to bear the scrutiny of God. Nobody can, as it were, built a ladder into heaven out of righteousness and have it stand long enough for that person to climb up into heaven. And the second fact is that God loves us. Indeed God loves us so much that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but has eternal life.

We all mean a lot to God. Our meaning to God is not what we do in our lifetime, but because of what we are. We are created by God in His own image. We are meant to be friends of God, although everyone of us uses our free will from time to time to do things that are not acceptable to God, however, he still reaches out to us and calls on us to come to him. He reaches out to us, not due to our love, nor any righteousness on our part, but all because of the love, the righteousness, the holiness of his nature, and the nature of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Because of the love of God for us, the door of heaven has been opened to all of us, regardless of who we are, of what we have done, where we are from, what our station in life is, what we did for other people, our nationality or the colour of our skin.

The question remains as to whether we will humble ourselves? Whether we will repent with a repentant heart? Whether we will treat each other as brothers and sisters, regardless of our station in life, where we are from, how much we have, what the colour of our skin is? It depends on whether we will repent with tears and mourning and enter into the rest, the peace that God freely offers us without asking for anything in return.

I would like to share a story with you:

A person by the name of Raymond passed away and went to heaven. God personally greeted him at the Pearly Gates. Are you hungry? Will you like to share a meal with me? God asked of Raymond. Raymond answer was as we all expected a ‘Yes’. So God opened a can of sardines and reached for a chunk of my wife’s favourite bread, rye bread. They shared it. While eating this humble meal, Raymond looked down into hell and saw the inhabitants of hell eating huge chunks of steak, lobsters, Scottish smoked salmon, goose liver, pastries, and fine wines. Raymond was feeling curious, but deeply trusting in God, Raymond remained quiet. The next day God again invited Raymond to join him for a meal. Again it was sardines and rye bread. Once again, out of curiosity, Raymond looked down into hell and sees the citizens of hell enjoying lamb, fresh sea food, champagne, caviar, cheese cakes and nice Swiss chocolates. Still Raymond said nothing. The following day, mealtime arrived with another can of sardines being opened. Raymond could not control his curiosity any longer. Meekly, he asked: “God, I am very grateful to be in heaven with you as a reward for the pious, obedient life I led. But here in heaven all I get to eat is sardines and a piece of rye bread and in the other place they eat like emperors and kings! Forgive me, O God, but I just do not understand the reason behind this.” God signed: “Let us be honest, Raymond. For just two people, does it pay to cook?”

Our Saviour Jesus Christ wants us to know how valuable we are in his sight; however, there is a very big difference between a healthy sense of our own value and worth in the eyes of God and the kind of self esteem we have that is only based upon comparing ourselves to the other people. This is the kind of self-evaluation that would bring us – like Raymond in the story – to think that all the good things we received from God is due to the pious and obedient life that we have been leading in this life.

The Gospel reading of this morning is a reminder to us of this truth. It is a reminder to us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ that it is not what we have done or failed to do that will justify us in the eyes of God. This is a reminder to all of us that what pleases God is not our so call goodness, a goodness that we measure in comparison to other people. What pleases God is not how well we know our Bible, or how long we have been a Christian, or how much we do for the church, or how much we do for other people. At the end of the day, what pleases God is the state of our hearts and whether or not we long with a deep longing for the mercy of God, for meeting Jesus in person, and for the appearing of our Lord.

Let us listen again to the introduction to the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It goes something like this: To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: And then Jesus tells it – saying: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: “God I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evildoers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I sincerely believe that none of us present here today would ever say such a thing in our prayers whether it be right here under this very roof that houses a sanctuary of God, nor will we ever be saying such a prayer at home, or while we are working, or in public transportations or anywhere else for that matter. We would not say such a thing to God or say such things to other people or even to ourselves, for after all, we are the people who believe in the good news. We are the ones who believe in the Gospel and we should know better than the Pharisees. At least we should know how the parable that Jesus tells us today comes out. We know how Jesus said at the very end of telling the story that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. And I hope that we are all in agreement that this is as it should ever be. I hope that we are in agreement that people who always think that they are better than anyone else are really a true pain in the neck, and that people who might think that they can in their own way earn their way into heaven are terribly misguided people. I hope that we are all in agreement that people who compared themselves to other people are setting themselves and others up for trouble. I thank God for it. Thank God that we are not like the Pharisee.

Do you hear what I am trying to say? Do you see not the irony of what I just said? Do you not understand that just now how we, or at least I did, whether we wanted to or not, do in fact compare ourselves to one another and just did, as the Pharisee did, take comfort from the fact that we are not as misguided, not as foolish, not as sinful as some other poor misguided, foolish and sinful persons? Do you understand just how we, whether we wishes to or not, do in fact think about how much more we do for God than some other people???

It is, unfortunately, a human condition of making judgements about yourselves and about other people. This is a condition that is a contradiction, a condition that is hateful to God, and a condition that is, if you really pause to think about it, truly depressing. In fact judging ourselves better than some other people – if not everyone else is such a pervasive condition that we need to be saved from it. It is one of the things that demonstrates our need for the totally underserved, the totally unearned, grace and love of God.

Let us now get back to the parable.

After the Pharisee has prayed his prayer of thanksgiving to God, it is now the turn of the tax collector. He stood at a distance, just like some of you who always insists on sitting at the back of the church there. And he would not even look up to heaven, but he beat his breast and said: “God have mercy on me, a sinner”.

‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’

This cry of the tax collector is the basis of what I would call the Jesus Prayer, the prayer that is in one way or another, a continuous reminder of what we are. We are no better than the people next door to us. We are no better than the people who are doing less for God than us. We are no better than the ones who are earning less money than us. We are no better or worse than the ones who are earning more money than us. We are no better than the ones who are of a different skin colour from us. We are no better than those who are in a lower position than us in life. We should use this prayer as a continuous refrain and as something for us to really think about. This is why we should call upon our Lord for mercy and forgiveness for we have all been sinners.

Jesus ended the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee by saying: “I will tell you, this man, rather than the other went home justified before God; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

It is very difficult my dear brothers and sisters in Christ. It is indeed very difficult to avoid making judgements about other people. So the best thing that we can do is to be humble. It is best to think not of how we might be better than other people, or of how some other people who might be worse than us, but rather to think of who we are before God. For it is by grace that you have been saved. It is through faith that we are saved. Forgiveness and salvation are not gained by your good works. It is a gift from God, and it is through Grace that our sins are forgiven and it is through Grace that we obtained salvation.

Some of us may at times find it hard, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to think that God does not judge me as according to what I done in this life. Some of us may find it a challenge to really grasp that God loves me, regardless of what I did in this life. Some of us may still find it difficult, from time to time, to understand the truth that tells us that “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” But that is the Gospel truth. And we should rejoice in it even though we may from time to time have a difficult time accepting it. We should rejoice because we know that God loves us even more than a parent loves his or her troublesome child. We should be rejoicing because we know that God will welcome us when we long for his coming, when we humble ourselves and admit to ourselves and to God that we are in need of his forgiveness, that we are in need of him to have mercy on us who are poor sinners, that we are in need of his help to face life. We should rejoice because we know that God welcome us, his prodigal children home with great rejoicing in heaven.

When we come before God, our hands are truly empty….
What can we offer to God that is not given to us from him?

When we come before God, our hands are truly empty….What can we present to God that God has not given to us to present to him? We are all poor sinners that God has reached down from on high to save. Today, as we sing the next hymn or when we leave this building and go about our business for the day, recall the prayer of the tax collector and the message of Jesus in this parable. Recall the message of the Gospel deep in your heart, and know that God loves you, a sinner. And that God wants you to come before him and offer to him all of your own imperfect self. Let us remember that God wants you to come, and to take away your fear, your anger, your helplessness, your pride, your shortcomings, and to heal you and bless you richly.

Come, seek mercy, not because you are holy, but because you are not. Come seek mercy, not because you are better than other people, but because you are not. Come, ask for God’s blessings, not because you deserve it, but because you do not. Come, follow Jesus, not because you are worthy, but because Christ himself seeks to work in you and through you to heal and make right all that is wrong. Bless is his name – day by day. Amen.