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A Prayer for Mercy

2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18   Luke 18: 9-14

          The Pharisee prays with one eye open. With that eye he observes the people around him and draws the conclusion that he is better than them.

          He is a better man than the thieves, adulterers and the tax collector he sees.  He is a righteous man, law-abiding and dutiful, one who does what God requires.  Of his material wealth, he gives a tithe to the temple.  He fasts twice a week, more than the law of Torah commands. 

          The Christian Church depends on people like that man, people who do what God expects. The church would not survive if not for those folks who, Sunday after Sunday, find their spots on the pews and lift their voices in prayer and song, people who religiously and regularly come to worship services.  The church needs people who take seriously the biblical mandate to return to God a tenth of what they have earned.  The church needs people who consider visitation of the sick as part of their Christian duty.  The church needs people who show up at church gatherings, out of a sense of commitment. 

          People who are dutiful like the Pharisee hold the community together, too. They respect the decisions elected officials make.  They vote and pay taxes. They follow society’s rules.

          Conversely, the other man who is praying, the tax collector, is a lawbreaker.  His conduct is reprehensible.  He fleeces the citizens of their hard earned money.  He is morally despicable. 

          Given the choice of emulating the good deeds of the Pharisee or the misdeeds of the tax collector, which should the church imitate.

          What contrasting lives they have lived.  But the contrast between the two men consists of more than good deeds and bad deeds.  The Pharisee has an attitude of arrogance and self-exaltation.  The tax collector is humble and contrite. 

          More than arrogant, the Pharisee, we are told, harbors contempt for the people around him-the rogues, the thieves and this tax collector.  He prejudges other people.  For him, you can judge a book by its cover.  And judge, he does. 

You may recall a story I previously told about an incident that happened on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg.  A middle-aged, well-off, white South African woman found herself seated next to a person of color.  She motioned for the flight attendant. 

“What seems to be the problem”, the flight attendant asked.

“Can’t you see!” the woman indignantly said.  “You have seated me beside this, this …I can’t possibly sit here for one moment longer.  Find me another seat.  NOW!”

“Please calm down, Madam”, the flight attendant replied.  “As you can see, the flight is full but I will see what I can do for you.  I will check on seats in club and first class.”

As the woman glared at the man seated beside her, the nearby passengers were growing very uncomfortable.  A few minutes later the flight attendant returned.  “I have good news madam.  As I suspected, the flight is full, except for one seat in first class.  .  Normally we cannot upgrade an Economy passenger with a seat to First Class but this is an exceptional circumstance and the captain has approved the change.  Madam, no one should have to sit beside such an objectionable person.  That would simply be outrageous.”  The woman was beaming.  She looked down her nose at her neighbor and around at those in the seats near her with a smug and satisfied looks.  But her expression changed dramatically as the flight attendant turned towards the man seated alongside the woman: “Sir, the captain, the rest of the crew, and I would be very pleased if you would accompany me to First Class.  There, you will be more comfortable and you will not have to sit beside this obnoxious woman.”

The surrounding passengers broke into applause as the man got up, gave his hat and briefcase to the attendant and was led to the First Class section.[1]

At the end of the parable, Jesus says: “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The one whom Jesus declared in a right relationship with God is not the Pharisee who proudly confessed his good deeds; the one who is in a right relationship with God is the one who humbly admitted his misdeeds.  The one declared by God as righteous certainly is not the one who views others with contempt, but, rather, the one who contritely acknowledges he is a sinner in need of God’s grace. 

On this Reformation Sunday, I am reminded that Martin Luther, similar to many of the reformers, had this view which formed the core of his theology:  

“The more I think of myself as a saint, the more sinful in fact I am.  The more I think of myself as a sinner, the more saintly in fact I become.” 

The Pharisee thought of himself as a saint.  The tax collector, in contrast, acknowledged himself a sinner.  He is the saint!  The tax collector prays a prayer for mercy: “God be merciful to me a sinner.”   The prayer is the prayer of a man who has lived and might continue to live a scandalous life. But he is the one Jesus identifies as justified, saintly, in a right relationship with the Divine.   

If not for the privilege of having been so profoundly influenced by the reformed doctrine of justification by faith and grace, we would be shocked at that conclusion.  Most people who first heard this parable almost certainly would have thought the Pharisee, the one who obeyed the rules and carried out good deeds, would have been declared a saint.

John Carroll, professor of New Testament at Union-PSCE in Richmond, suggests: “The scandal of grace, as expressed in this story…is that the righteous stand no closer to God than do those among the unrighteous…The initiative of grace lies with God, and in its freedom to embrace a sinner…it shatters the expectations of human beings who prefer to structure their… world into polarities of good and bad, holy and unholy, pious and godless.”[2] 

From time to time, Martin Luther walked through an emotional and spiritual wilderness.  During those moments when a fog of despair surrounded him, he doubted the presence of God.

          Then, he literally would touch his head and remember the fact that he had been baptized. 

In baptism we are reminded of the One who is greater than we are.   We remember the one who comes to us in grace.  In the midst of our good deeds and misdeeds, in our arrogance and in our humility, the initiative of grace belongs to God.  God claims us as his own and to him we belong forever.