This is an adapted form of the sermon I preached this morning, October 23, 2022. The gospel text was Luke 18:9-14.
There was once a Sunday School teacher who taught this story to her students. After telling the story, she helped the kids to understand where the Pharisee had gone wrong, by thinking he was better than the tax collector. And then at the end of class, she prayed with them, and the prayer went like this:
“God, thank you for making us so humble like the tax collector. Thank you for making sure that we don’t think we’re better than others. Thank you for making us not like that Pharisee. Amen.”
Did you see what that Sunday School teacher did there? The same thing. Just as the Pharisee thanked God that he wasn’t like that tax collector, she thanked God that she wasn’t like that Pharisee.
Yikes. I’ll tell you what. I thank God that I’m not like that Sunday School teacher.
Umm. Wait a minute.
Do you see how easy it is to do that? To think we’re better than other people, and to even thank God for that?
You know what, we skipped the Confession and Forgiveness this morning. And we did that because I wanted to do that as part of the sermon. Let’s do that now. Though I warn you – it’s going to be a little different than usual.
In the name of the Father,
and of the ☩ Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Most merciful God,
We thank you for protecting us from sin so that we can be your beloved children. Thank you for helping us to avoid all the sins that others commit. They sin in thought, word, and deed, things they have done and things they have left undone. They don’t love you with their whole heart. They don’t love their neighbors as themselves. But we do! Thank you for making us better than them, so we may be your chosen people now and forever.
Amen.In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God has made Christians better than all other people. I therefore declare to you that you are among the good people. Continue to live your perfect lives.
Amen.
Well. That was certainly different, wasn’t it? Did you feel comfortable saying that? Did you feel comfortable hearing my words?
And really, it wasn’t a confession at all. And nor was it forgiveness. I didn’t offer you forgiveness for anything. Because if that was your confession, then you really didn’t need any forgiveness anyway. You were already perfect.
We will have confession and forgiveness for real in just a few minutes. But first, think about what we just said. If we’re honest, don’t we sometimes feel like that? Don’t we all sometimes feel like we’re better than other people? And don’t we sometimes feel like we’re better than them precisely because we’re Christian? And they’re the ones who need to become more like us? Sometimes?
I think that’s what was going on in the Pharisee’s mind in the story Jesus told. I think he thought that he was right before God simply because he was better than the tax collector. And the truth is, he probably did a better job of following God’s laws than the tax collector did. But according to Jesus, he missed the entire point.
Following God’s laws is a good thing to do. But they are not the point. The point is something completely different. The point is grace.
And grace is precisely what the tax collector received. Or more to the point, grace is precisely the thing the tax collector knew he received.
The Pharisee thought he was special because he did the right thing, said the right words. But he wasn’t. Neither are we. Christians are not the special ones whom God loves because we’ve done the right thing. We are not any better than anyone else. We’re not any less sinful. We’re not any more holy.
But we are different. You know what makes us different? This:
We are the ones who have the joy of knowing that God loves us. Not everybody knows that. When Jesus said, “this man went down to his home justified, and not the other,” that’s what he was talking about, I think. He wasn’t saying that the tax collector was going to heaven and the Pharisee wasn’t, or anything like that.
No, when he said, “This man went down to his home justified, and not the other,” he meant that this man, the tax collector who beat his breast and prayed for forgiveness, went down to his home knowing the love of God. He didn’t just know about the love of God, he experienced it, because he knew he needed it. The Pharisee, on the other hand, didn’t know the love of God because he wasn’t looking for it. I think he was instead looking for God’s approval.
But you know, God’s not in the business of handing out approval. God’s in the business of handing out grace. God was showering grace upon both the tax collector and the Pharisee that day, just like God showers grace upon us all like rain. The tax collector noticed. Only the tax collector felt that grace.
When we confess our sins, our imperfections, our brokenness, and we receive God’s forgiveness, we too know that grace. And we can share it with one another. We can tell one another, “God loves you. God forgives you.”
Let’s do it now. I invite you to really pay attention to what you’re saying, and to what I’m saying. Make your real confession. Receive God’s real forgiveness.
In the name of the Father,
and of the ☩ Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.By water and the Holy Spirit God gives you a new birth, and through the death and resurrection of ☩ Jesus Christ, God forgives you all your sins. The God of mercy and might strengthen you in all goodness and keep you in eternal life.
Amen.
That’s grace. That’s God’s love. Amen.
Image by James Chan from Pixabay
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