"Prayers of Saints and Sinners"

Luke 18:9-14

The past two Sundays in the adult lecture class, we have been thinking about the practice of prayer. And the past couple of weeks, the Gospel reading has been about prayer, as it is today. As San pointed out last Sunday, Luke’s Gospel in particular emphasizes prayer – the prayer life of Jesus and these parables only found in Luke about prayer.

The choir set the scene beautifully with this thoughtful prayer of Dag Hammarskjold for us to think about our prayer life and how it relates to following Christ as disciples and apostles. Prayer is at the heart of our relationship to God.

Our reading is from the 18^th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Listen.

Luke begins by making it very clear who Jesus’ audience is – “he told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”

The story is about two men, described as a Pharisee and a tax collector. And Jesus tells a brief tale of two characters who are polar opposites. And so we learn about two ways of being with God.

The Pharisee has a great resume. The Pharisees were in many ways the most admired sect of first century Judaism. They were know for their excellence in the interpretation of scripture, their modest lifestyle, strong faith and practice of prayer. They refused to swear allegiance to Caesar. They were models of serious religious folks whose faith permeated every aspect of their lives.

In a way, we can understand why they are so focused on following the law to the letter. As we think back to the Hebrew prophets, we remember that much of what they preached was about turning back to God – that the Hebrew people had turned to other gods, and God was calling them back to follow God’s ways. But as the story goes, the people refused, and the Babylonians carried them away into exile.

And so in exile, they had to wonder if God was with them, if God cared about them, if God would save them. And after 70 or so years, the king of Persia told them to go home, and even provided for them to get back to their home land where they could begin to rebuild their lives, their temple, their homes.

So it makes sense that they would think that since they had a second chance, this time they would be completely obedient no matter what. And out of that way of thinking, grew the sect of Judaism known as the Pharisees. They got so intent on keeping the law that God sometimes got lost in the shuffle. That seems to be why Jesus often called them to task.

They were the most faithful, the most devout, the most prayerful, and yet often the most criticized by Jesus.

The name Pharisee means “separated one” which is pretty telling in itself. Just in the name we understand their aloofness, even from other Jews. This parable describes the Pharisee as praying off to himself.

Now the other fellow, the tax collector has a different reputation! He worked as an agent for a chief toll collector, a Jew who contracted with the Roman occupation to collect taxes such as tolls, tariffs, and customs. Because the tax collectors had to pre-pay the taxes to the Romans, they would recoup their costs plus additional fees, often taken through extortion and dishonest means. No wonder tax collectors were not well thought of in their society.

If that were all that we knew about these two, it would be easy to label the saint and the sinner. But then, the story becomes one of Jesus’ great reversals. We get a different picture as these two offer their prayers.

The Pharisee actually begins his prayer with a good thought – I give you thanks, O God – he knows that the grace of God has been with him. But then, he just seems to be giving God a progress report. And he has done some impressive things. According to Levitical Law, one only had to fast once a year, on the Day of Atonement – he fasts twice a week. And he only needed to tithe on portions of his possessions, but he tithes on everything.

But the problem seems to be in his all too eager willingness to compare himself to others as he reviews his achievements. “No one else can measure up to me. I have surpassed them all.” This prayer is full of the word “I.” It seems to be a prayer about human effort. Where is the room for God?

The tax collector, however, stands far off, not even lifting up his eyes. He prays a simple prayer, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” He simply puts himself in a position of remorse, aware that he is separated from God. He throws himself upon the mercy of God.

And immediately we see the reversal. Jesus declares the sinner to the restored, but not the professional religious one. “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

But wait! Isn’t there a trap of this simple parable? How many of us found ourselves thinking – I sure am glad I don’t pray like that Pharisee prayed? I thank you God that I am not like that self-righteous Pharisee! Oops!

So we can hear the parable as a lesson on humility. Go and be humble like that tax collector! Martin Luther said that the more he thought of himself as a saint, the more sinful in fact he became. The more he thought of himself as a sinner, the more saintly in fact he became.

Today we are thinking about the saints. And in celebrating All Saints Day, we remember all those good people who have gone before us who have encouraged us in our faith. We celebrate the saints who will come after us, even those sitting next to us in the pew every Sunday. We even pray, like the old hymn says, “Lord, help me to be one too.”

We acknowledge that saints are just people, people who make mistakes, people who are sometimes self-righteous, people who approach God in many ways – sometimes humbly, sometimes proudly.

And so what we begin to see is that sainthood, and actually this parable of Jesus, is not so much about who we are as it is about who God is. This parable is not about how we can earn God’s love by using the right words in prayer or by having a humble attitude, or by following the law or by fasting or tithing or by doing anything! This parable teaches that we do nothing to earn God’s love, it is given freely, as a gift.

Both men in the parable need God’s grace. The difference is that the Pharisee does not know it and the tax collector does. The tax collector goes to the temple with nothing – his hands and heart are empty. He acknowledges his need and waits before God, knowing that God’s nature is to be gracious and merciful.

All of us stand in the temple every Sunday, saints and sinners, Pharisees and tax collectors. Some days we are one or the other, and most times, probably a little of both. There are Sundays when we come needing nothing, very self-sufficient. Other times we come empty, lost, hungry.

What we have come to know and trust is that we are met by God in Jesus Christ no matter who we are when we come. Christ ate with both the sinners and the righteous – so says one of our communion liturgies.

And so we pray with Hammarskjold – give us a pure heart that we may see Thee, a humble heart that we may hear Thee, a heart of love that we may serve Thee, a heart of faith that we may live Thee. Amen.