Pentecost 20 “Humbled and Exalted”
October 17th, 2022 – Luke 18:14
Receive from God the good you have not deserved, not the bad you have, and peace be yours with God through the blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Two Lutherans went to Church Sunday morning – one a regular attender and the other… well not. During Prayer and Preparation before the start of the service, the regular attender prayed, “Father, thank you that I have a strong faith and that I’m actually here on Sunday mornings. Thank you that I’ve attended Bible Study more than a couple times in the past year. Thank you that I’m able to give so much to the church in my offerings. I’m sure grateful I’m not what’s-her-name in the back corner over there. Haven’t seen her here in years. She definitely hasn’t attended any studies or helped us out with any events when we’ve asked, and I’m pretty sure she hasn’t contributed a single cent to this church. Probably just be here for service this morning and we won’t see her again for another five years… *sigh* But Father, thank you that at least I’m showing up.”
The other Lutheran sat at the back quietly with her head down. During Prayer and Preparation, she could hardly utter a prayer in her own mind. It had been years since she’d been back. It took all the courage she had to even show up this morning. The guilt of having been gone laid heavy and wave over wave of guilt crashed over her as she thought of all the things she had done wrong over the years. The services she’d missed, the church family she hadn’t been there for, the events she hadn’t helped out with, and the offerings to God she had stolen by never giving them. There was no way she could make up for it all – the debt was too big – the time already passed. She didn’t deserve to be here. As she could see it, either get up and leave now or throw herself on the hope that maybe – just maybe – God could forgive her, even if all the ones around her couldn’t.
I tell you; this Lutheran went home forgiven and right with God. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
This is the parable Jesus taught. A more modern telling of it anyway. We’ve been raised our whole Christian life to hear it wrong. We hear Pharisee and think “Boo! Bad guy” and Tax Collector and think “Awe, poor good guy.”
To get this parable right – to actually understand what Jesus is telling us – we need to hear it a little more like I just spoke it.
Pharisees? They were good guys. They did good and right things – to the nth degree! They came to “church” they listened to God’s Law, they lived lives trying to be the most good and perfect people they could be – not according to themselves but according to God! They’re like the modern equivalent of “super Christians.” You know the ones who are always at church, always volunteering their time, always kind and know what God says is right and wrong on any issue and actually live it! You know those ones you might even hate a little bit because they put you to shame just by being so good at being a Christian? Here’s a shocking statement for you, Pharisees aren’t bad.
Here’s something else. Tax Collectors? They’re the sellouts. The ones who were here and left. The ones who now make boat loads of money and don’t give any to the church or help their families. The ones who have the nicest things, look out for themselves at the expense of others, abandoned their faith in God, and make their parents and grandparents cry every time they tell them what they really think of the church. Tax Collectors, in their time back then, were actively helping the government abuse and oppress their own families – their own people. It would be like one of the kids we loved and cared, brought through Sunday School, Confirmed, had in Youth Group, who went off to school, got a great job in government, and is now actively trying to have our church shut its doors so that other more ‘socially acceptable’ groups can be using the space because our religion has been deemed outdated and hurtful. Tax Collectors weren’t good people. They knew it. It was a big dark blot on them all the time. They were treated like the hurtful, selfish, sellouts they were by the people who used to love them. For the most part, they didn’t care. To them they were doing what they thought was best for themselves. Tax Collectors aren’t good.
The same thing applies to our retold parable this morning. Who can say that attending church, being in God’s Word, and giving to His church are bad things? If you say they’re bad, you’d unfortunately not be speaking with God on that.
And who can say that doing something else instead of going to church Sunday morning, abandoning your church family, and neglecting your faith is a good thing? Clearly the Lutheran who is showing up is doing the right, God-pleasing, things and the Lutheran who has failed to do so much she should have been doing is in the wrong.
Jesus’ point is not about throwing away right and wrong because the right person is wrong in this parable and the wrong person ends up being right. No, a pharisee is still right for following God with all their heart, soul, and strength, and a Tax Collector is still wrong for their sinful actions.
Jesus’ point is a condemnation. A truth bomb rooted in the 1st Commandment “You shall have no other Gods.” Jesus speaks it to those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9).
The Pharisee, despite all the good they did, trusted in Himself – not God. Thereby breaking the 1stCommandment.
The Tax Collector, despite all the evil they did, trusted in God – not himself. Thereby relying entirely on God’s mercy – and receives His forgiveness.
We too ought to see ourselves in this story. We ought to see our imperfections, our sin, our need to entirely rely on God for the good we cannot do to be right with Him.
We too ought to see the good we do, the ways we are right and follow God more than other, and the sinful condemnation of others, self-righteousness, and un-reliance on God that follows.
Either way, we are to see in Jesus Word, that are hearts are broken and only He can fix them.
And He does. He speaks to us to condemn our self-exaltation and He lift us up when we’ve been brought low in humility. He forgives our sin in the here and now just as He condemned us in the here and now through His Word.
He rips out of our hands the things we’ve been clinging to which our hearts have deceived us into thinking are making us righteous. He rips away our church attendance, our time in His Word, and the gifts we have given to instead give us back the true gift that is righteousness in His Son alone – that is only clung to by faith.
He rips away the mistakes we’ve made, the hurt we’ve caused, the brokenness that we are, the failure to be in Church, His Word, and giving to it as He commands, and in return He gives us His perfection in Jesus through His Church – through His Word and Sacraments.
Whether exalting yourself or humbled, God comes to you today, reminds you who you truly are, who He is, and He makes you clean.
This morning when you woke up, He made you clean by the baptism you were baptised with into Him. This morning when you confessed you sins and I forgave them in Jesus’ stead and by His command, He made you clean. In the hearing of His Word and rightly understanding it in this message, He made you clean. And by His very body and blood that is coming to us very soon, His body and blood that He commands us to eat and drink, He will make you clean.
Children of God, none of this is you. All of it is Him. That is the point. That is what Jesus’ Word to us today is all about. His free overwhelming gift.
We’re all forgiven the same amount so in humility love your neighbour – do not look down upon them. Love our good God who in His perfect love for us sinners is exalted above all things.