Father Riley's sermon from Oct 27, 2019 at Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Ruston

20 PENTECOST, PROPER XXV - C - 19                 LUKE 18. 9-14

“Two men went up to the temple to pray…” Thus, Jesus begins yet another parable that is peculiar to Luke. It reverts to the theme of the Pharisee in relation to the outcasts. Their self-justifying dispisal of the outcast tax collectors is opposed to true faithfulness, such as the Son of Man hopes to find at his coming, which he alluded to, as you may recall at the conclusion of, last week’s gospel.

Did God hear both of these men’s prayers? That’s a good question. Were both of these men’s prayers acceptable to God? Another good question. We don’t always think about whether or not our prayers will be acceptable to God do we?

Many of our prayers are hurried, one sided, meaning that they are all about self and our needs without regard for others. When we hurry our prayers, we don’t stop to listen to God.  Moreover, if our prayers were written out they would look more like a shopping list rather than a prayer list. Right? God knows the difference.

“Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” The Pharisee stood off by himself away from the other man. He began his prayer by thanking God that he was not like other men, including the one who is in the Temple with him.

Then he added a boast that he was doing more than was expected of him in terms of fasting and alms giving. The practices of the Pharisee are worthy examples to follow. However, without a humble and repentant heart, these outward practices are worthless and lead only to pride and judgment of others.

He prays by himself for God is absent where there is boasting. Instead of having faith in God, some like the Pharisee trust in themselves. Man, however, is justified by his trust in God, not by his own efforts. Justified means forgiven and set right with God.

On the other hand, the tax collector shows by his posture an awareness of the state of his soul. He stood far away from the altar of sacrifice with his eyes cast downward. Instead of boasting, he beats his breast as an outward sign of humility in admitting his sin, and asks for God’s mercy.

God receives those who in contrition implore his mercy rather than those who parade their supposed virtues. Inward humility is blessed while pride in outward deeds is condemned. Jesus’ point in telling the parable is clear - the sacrifice that is acceptable to God is broken and contrite heart.

The tax collector, Jesus said, was the one who went home justified rather the other. As St. Bernard wrote centuries ago, “from the contemplation of ourselves we gain holy fear and humility; but from the contemplation of God, Hope and Love.”

All will “stand” before God one day and all will be judged by our thoughts, words, and deeds. Yet many people come to believe that being a Christian means being against other people, or, to use the words of St. Luke in today’s gospel, trusting in our righteousness and despising others. Those who think that way believe that they are o.k. in the eyes of God.

In our world today, one does not need to be a Christian in order to despise anyone. Our society is heavily divided: Christian against Muslim, Muslim against Christian, non-religious against any religion, so on, and so forth. Politics and religion were the two topics I was told by my mother never to discuss.

However, both are in the forefront of today’s society and openly debated. It is hard to avoid being confronted by one or the other. On the contrary, we should recognize our solidarity in human sin rather than our self-imposed divisions. That should convince all of us of our common need for God’s forgiveness.

If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that there those times when we fall into the sin of self-righteousness. We react to something on the news, or someone we see and or hear about on social media that causes us to respond by saying or thinking, “I am glad I am not like that person.”

Yet what we are doing in essence is separating ourselves from one who differs from us in thought, word or deed. We are making a judgment call, Which is to say, makes us no different from the Pharisee in today’s parable whose prayer separated him from not only the tax collector, but from God.

When on the other hand, we should as St. Paul says in another place, confess that there “but by the grace of God go I.” We need to relinquish all thoughts of our somehow being better in the eyes of God than all others are. After all, it is what God sees in us that matters and not how we see ourselves. God does not look on the outward appearances but into our hearts.

The tax collector had nothing going for him except his faith in God’s mercy. And if we were at our truthful best, we would certainly all describe ourselves in the same way. For as Jeremiah says, “our iniquities testify against us…” The tax collector acknowledged his sinfulness and threw himself on the mercy of God.

Throughout the history of God’s people, divine mercy was always reserved for those who were ready to admit their true situation in the sight of God. God always hears the prayers of those who are honest enough to acknowledge their unworthiness, their insignificance in the sight of God. It is called humility.

The heart of the Christian faith is that Jesus Christ humbled his divinity in order to share in our humanity. He lived and died as one of us in order to reconcile us to God. For God realized long ago the hopelessness of human sin, who can do no more than to cry out to God for mercy.

In His Love for us, God sent his only Son not to condemn the world, but to save it. Through the merits of His death and resurrection, Christ has shown us the heights and depth of the Love of God. Through Him we have been blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth, and to teach us to trust in God above all else.

Moreover, if that were not enough, God has given us the gift of Faith and the means of grace to live into the new life in which we have been called, following the examples of Christ in all humility; a life of Faith, Hope and Love, that is ours only because of the goodness, and mercy of God. AMEN+