A sermon given at First Presbyterian Church, Spring City, TN, October 23, 2016
OT Reading: Joel
2:1-14
Gospel Reading: Luke 18:9-14
I was happy to read the lectionary
passage from Joel because
of its talk of dreaming. After all, aren’t we all dreamers? Some dream to find
someone to love and live a happy life together, or for that great job and the
security that comes with it. Some dream what a nice world it would be if there
were not so much trouble in it. Some
dream of a world where the church is a vital, living part of everyone’s life. I
know our situation in life and mindset shapes most of what we dream about. I
know for some the circumstances of the world have beaten down dreaming and
faith in the future, but I pray not for long....
I first wondered how Joel connects to
our gospel passage in Luke, but then I remembered Jesus provided
the answer to the big questions about where is the Kingdom of God and when will
the Son of Man come in our previous readings in Luke 17-19. He tells to
persevere seeking justice from God by continually praying (not non-stop, but
regular) that our life demonstrates to the world how we live in the Kingdom of
God. If we have steadfast faith that the Lord will take care of those who persevere,
justice shall prevail.
Today’s parable is a companion to the unjust
judge last week. It is a splash of cold water to center our dreams on God’s
reality. It invites us to evaluate prayerfully
how we let our situation in life and mindset shape our dreams and aspirations.
Luke tells us that the parable is told
to “some who trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and regarded others with contempt.” The parable involves two people, a
Pharisee and a tax collector. I wonder if Jesus invites us to a self-comparison
with these two people?
The previous post mentioned
that knowing the actual historical context of a parable can help us more fully
appreciate and apply it. So here is a little background history about Pharisees
and tax collectors in the time of Jesus.
Pharisees had an important role in the
religious life of this time. They were not priests but a group of laypersons
who used great effort to follow and defend the Law to its letter. They were
similar to the current lay religious police of Islam called the mutaween.
Gentile armies such as the Assyrians and Babylonians, Alexander the Great, and
Rome ravaged the Jewish nation. Captivity was a historical reality extending
over 500 years until the time of Jesus that contradicted God’s promise to
Israel. The Pharisees sought to strengthen religious belief in the face of
captivity by seeking out and bringing to justice heretics and those who were
derelict in their piety.
Many Jews had a favorable opinion of
Pharisees. The criticism Jesus aimed at them was not of their fundamental
commitment to the Law but of their blindness to the fact that the Law is not
something to obey because it is written on a tablet but because it is part of
your being written in your heart and behavior. Jesus was critical of those who
got the “love God with all your might” part right, but seemed to miss the
second great commandment that follows from the first, “love your neighbor as
you love yourself,”… or as I like to put it, “love your neighbor the way God
loves you.”
As for the tax collector, historical
records show that a tax collector was despised by the people. Tax collectors
were basically government-sanctioned robbers. Rome gave tax collecting power to
the landowners who in turn gave responsibility to collect to the tax
collectors. They collected poll taxes, taxes on passage on Roman
roads, on fishing and many things, earning their keep by adding their own “fee”
on top. They had the authority to
extract tax using any method they needed no matter how cruel. Yet ironically they were captive to their
Roman masters and landowners because not bringing back the taxes was a serious
problem.
Most tax collectors, as this one, were
Jews. They were subject to violence by the Jewish public and barred from most
if not all religious offices, probably even from worshipping in the Temple because
they worked for the Romans and oppressed their own people. They were not viewed
as good and righteous people.
So, as Jesus introduces the parable,
the listener’s first reaction hearing the prayer of the Pharisee in the Temple
is likely positive. Even more, by pointing out the reviled tax collector, he
deflects attention away from his arrogance and most would overlook the
arrogance threaded into his prayer (11,12), “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves,
rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I
give a tenth of all my income.”
In an imperfect way the Pharisee shows
exemplary behavior under the Law, he does not steal, he is not a rabble-rouser
or an adulterer, and fasts and gives a 10th of his resources to the
Temple. Compared to this reviled tax collector, and his own account of his
righteous life, he is a pretty good guy.
Where do we find the tax collector, in
the Temple? No, Luke says the tax collector is “far away.” It is entirely
likely that this tax collector is not, or cannot be in the Temple with the
Pharisee. He maybe on the outside of the gate of the Temple, estranged from his
God whose place he cannot enter. That makes Luke’s record hard to figure out,
how does the Pharisee in the Temple even see the tax collector? Luke is more concerned to emphasize this
scene of the complete estrangement of the tax collector. It gives the conclusion
of the parable great power.
We see the obvious contrast of the
insider, the Pharisee, and the outsider, the tax collector. The Pharisee stands
in the Temple close to the Lord, not with the hated tax collector who is
standing outside, separated from the Lord by his deeds. The contrast lures the
Jewish listener to favor the Pharisee.
At this point in the parable are we
siding with the tax collector, with the pious Pharisee, or are we judging the
Pharisee negatively for his arrogance and self-assurance that he is a self-made
man. (We know the idea of a self-made man is the ultimate heresy since
everything we treasure is a gift from God, on loan.) The first sentence of the
parable encourages us to judge the Pharisee harshly as probably almost 100% of
us do. But we turn the tables on ourselves, aren’t we acting like the Pharisee,
relieved that we are not as arrogant and blind to God’s grace as he is?...
It is not clear that anyone in the
Temple even hears the prayer of the tax collector. We, the listener to the
parable, may be the only one who hears the prayer of the tax collector. He has had
an epiphany about his own life as if he has awakened, looked and finally
recognized the moral destruction he has caused to himself and those fellow
citizens around him. He feels so worthlessness that he cannot even lift his
eyes to the Lord. There is no forthright joy as we find in Psalm 121, “I lift up my eyes
to the hills - from where will my help come,” or in Isaiah 51:6, Lift up your eyes
to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; but my salvation will be
forever, my deliverance will never be ended, or Nebuchadenezzer in Daniel 4:34-37, “I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and … blessed the Most High…for his
sovereignty is… everlasting…, and his kingdom endures
from generation to generation.
This miserable tax
collector stands outside the Temple physically separated from the space of
worship, emotionally separated from his own people and in his mind, even
separated spiritually from God. All he can do is beat his breast in despair finding
a bit of humility and faith to voice a prayer,
his lament, to his Creator... “God, be merciful to
me, a sinner!”
This lament connects us to
the passage in Joel. Joel proclaims a message to pray with persistence, and
hang on to your dreams for justice. Joel’s prophecy is one long lament, or prayerful
petition for justification and forgiveness by the Lord.
If you do not know it,
Joel is a mysterious book to biblical scholars of history. Its language says it
is about Zion and talks about Judah and the Temple. It was most likely written
after the Babylonian captivity when the Temple was rebuilt, but in the midst of
a immediate, profound national and spiritual crisis. Perhaps it is the
beginning of the domination by Alexander the Great? Nevertheless, Joel’s ritual
of lament in the Temple over separation from the Lord harmonizes with the
prayer of the tax collector. By connecting Joel’s demand for lamentation as a
form of worship Jesus is using the lament of the tax collector as the proper counterexample
to the prayer of the Pharisee. Our lament ought to be, “God, be merciful to me, a
sinner!,” not “Lucky me!”
The words of Joel tell a Jew listening
to Jesus that he has turned the table and upholds the tax collector’s humility:
Listen to these words of Joel:
“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on
my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land
tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming (note: Jesus has just previously
talked about the coming of the Son of Man), … The LORD utters his voice at the
head of his army; how vast is his host! Numberless
are those who obey his command.Truly the day of the LORD is great; terrible
indeed—who can endure it?...
Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me
with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend
your hearts and not your clothing. (i.e., beat your breasts in anguish
& Jeremiah) Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. 14Who
knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him?...
O children
of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given … your
vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain...And my people shall
never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am … your God and there is
no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. Then afterward I will
pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions… Even on
the male and female slaves…I will pour out my spirit… 3Then everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the
survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”
Can these words and assurance of Joel not
remind you of the question Jesus asked last week (18:7-8), “Will he delay long in helping them that pray (with
perseverance) I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them?”
This is the stuff of good
dreams, even those of old men. Through Jesus Christ, we “shall never again be put to shame.” The
Lord grants justice to those who ask and wait for it, even the despised tax
collector. Persevere with your faith, you will get justice. Amen
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