Receive Justification

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

I may be wrong, but I would imagine that we have some pretty heavy duty, hard core football fans in our midst this evening.  So with the Super Bowl now a somewhat distant memory, you may feel a bit lost.  You may wonder what you’re going to watch on Sunday afternoons now.   And the thought of having to wait until next September to get your football fix each week may be a bit unsettling for you.  I can relate to all that because I used to be that kind of a football fan, especially when my all-time favorite player, Walter Payton, whose nickname was “Sweetness” was running roughshod over everyone that got in his way when he played for the Chicago Bears.  Notice I said that I used to be that kind of fan which suggests that I am not anymore.  And indeed I’m not.  It’s not that I hate football.  I just don’t watch it anymore.  I lost interest in it.  So what happened?

Well, to put it bluntly, the game changed.  When Walter Payton would score a touchdown, he didn’t parade around the end zone pointing at himself as if to say, “Look at me!  Aren’t I something?”  When Dick Butkus would break through the line of the opposing team on a blitz and tackle the quarterback, he didn’t prance around the field beating his chest like a big gorilla or strike manly poses that drew attention to himself.  Payton, Butkus, and so many of the other great players back then just played the game.  They went out there week after week and did what they were getting paid to do.

But over the course of time that changed.  And I guess I just got weary of watching these overpaid athletes constantly drawing attention to themselves on virtually every play of the game.  I mean, I can understand it once in a while when an adrenaline rush gets the best of you, but do you have to do it every single tackle you make or every time you score a touchdown.  Whatever happened to a little humility on the field?

I’m sure Jesus must have been asking the same question whenever he went to worship at the temple in Jerusalem for there the Pharisees and other Jewish religious leaders strutted their stuff like a bunch of proud peacocks and displayed a pompous, self-righteous, we’re-better-than-anyone-else attitude that must have absolutely nauseated our Savior.  They were the polar opposite of their ancestor Moses who is described in Numbers 12:3 with these words, “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”  And I suppose, like my childhood hero Popeye, Jesus finally reached the point where he said, “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.”  So he told the parable that is the centerpiece of our sermon tonight.  And what a parable it is.  For it is a study of stark contrasts between 2 individuals who go up to the temple to pray – the one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.  So let’s take a look at some of those contrasts now.

First of all, there is the contrast of hubris vs. humility.  Now that word hubris is one that you may not be real familiar with.  One Internet dictionary defines it as “excessive pride or self-confidence.” Synonyms include arrogance, conceit, haughtiness, self-importance, egotism, pomposity, superiority.  And boy, do those words ever describe the Pharisee in this parable.  Just picture him taking his place in the front of the temple where everyone can see him.  Our text says: “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself.”  In essence he says, “God I thank you that I’m not like other men, especially that tax collector standing over there in the corner.  What a pitiful excuse for a human being.  Why, I fast twice a week.  I pay tithes of all that I earn.  Surely you must be impressed with me, Lord!”  That’s what you call pure, unadulterated hubris.  In fact, another dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, defines hubris as “a great or foolish amount of pride or confidence.”  It’s foolish because of what it must sound like to God.

It reminds me of a sermon that one of my former vicars preached many years ago in which he was talking about a movie that Shirley McClain once starred in called “Out on a Limb.”  Now in case you don’t know or remember who Shirley McClain was, she was heavily into what was called the New Age Movement back then.  Followers of that movement believed that they were God.  Well, there’s this unforgettable scene in the movie where Shirley McClain is standing on a beach looking heavenward and proclaiming, “I am God.  I am God.”  But my vicar said, “Can you imagine what that must have sounded like to God?”  He said, “It probably sounded like this: i am god.  i am god.”

Surely the Pharisee’s pompous boasts about himself must have sounded the same to God, especially when contrasted with the pure, unadulterated humility of the tax collector who felt such shame and sorrow over his sins that he stood off in a dark corner, not wanting to be seen by anyone, beating his breast, which was a sign of great remorse, unable and unwilling to lift his eyes up to heaven, but only saying over and over again, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  In fact, so humble was this tax collector that the original Greek language that this was written in has him saying not, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  Rather, a literal translation of the Greek has him saying, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”  I love that because he’s not looking at or comparing himself to anyone else that day.  He’s just looking deep into his own heart and confessing himself to be the worst of sinners.

Then a 2nd contrast that we note between these 2 characters in this parable is that of works vs. grace.  The Pharisee parades before God a list of some of the things that he believes makes him better than others.  He fasts.  He tithes.  But he also plays the comparison game.  He holds himself up against robbers, evildoers, adulterers, and of course the tax collector whom everyone knew worked for the enemy, the Roman government, and charged more in taxes than what was required so that he could pocket the excess money for himself.

Well, what about you?  Have you ever paraded your good works before God as though he owes you something for being such a decent and righteous human being?  “Lord, I go to church every Sunday.  I say prayers at mealtime.  I read my Bible occasionally.  I put money in the offering plate.  How could you allow this terrible thing to happen to me?”  Or do you ever play the comparison game?  “Yeah, I’ll admit that I’m a sinner, but I’m sure not as bad as that jerk that lives down the street from me.”  Or, “Lord, how come he gets all the breaks?  How come she got all the looks?  How come that family never struggles like ours does, especially after all the good things I’ve done for you?”  The comparison game…it’s a dangerous game to play because the truth of the matter is God doesn’t play that game.  At least not the way we do.  When he looks at us, he compares us to no one else but himself.  And when we hold our righteousness up against his righteousness, it’s like holding a little lighted match up against the blinding brilliance of the sun for there simply is no comparison.

And apparently the tax collector understood that, so rather than throw his good works out on the table for God to see, he instead throws himself on God’s mercy.  “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.”  He knew he didn’t deserve that mercy.  He knew he hadn’t earned that mercy.  He knew that he had fallen far short of God’s expectations.  So he did the only thing that a person under those circumstances can do if they ever hope to have a right relationship with God.  He looked to God for mercy.  He trusted God for grace.  By the way, you know what the difference is between mercy and grace?  Mercy is God withholding from us what we do deserve, namely, his wrath and punishment.  Grace is God giving to us what we don’t deserve, namely, his love, forgiveness, and salvation.

And that leads into the 3rd and final contrast between these 2 men that we want to note this evening and that is condemnation vs. justification.  In our text Jesus says: “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other (the Pharisee), went home justified before God.”  So even though the Pharisee might have thought he was in good standing with God after he tried to wow him and impress him with his litany of good works, actually the complete opposite was true.  Like the Apostle Paul says in Rom. 3:20: “…no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.”  For those who trust in their own good works and merits, for those who expect to get to heaven on the basis of what they’ve done, I’m sorry to say, only the condemnation of God awaits them on Judgment Day.

But for those who look not to their own works but only to the saving work that Jesus did for us through his perfect life, his sin-atoning sacrifice on the cross, and his death-defeating resurrection, not the condemnation but the commendation of God awaits them.  For like the tax collector in this parable, they have been justified (that means declared righteous in the eyes of God) by virtue of their faith in Christ.  In other words, when God looks at you right now, fallen sinner that you are, he doesn’t see your sin.  Rather he sees only the gleaming white brilliance and perfection of Christ’s righteousness covering your sin.  Now how can that be?

Well, the only reason that can happen is because of the great exchange that took place on the cross.  Show ledger illustration on screen here; explain it elsewhere…2 Cor. 5:21 – “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So if you’re going to give up something for Lent this year as many people do, might I suggest that you look to the Pharisee in our parable this evening and you give up any pride, any self-righteousness, any trying to get right with God on your own that you’ve been guilty of.  And then, look to the tax collector and spend this holy season of the year in humble reflection and repentance for all the sins that you’ve committed that made the cross of Christ so necessary.  And then most importantly, look to Jesus and receive from him the gift of justification that he made possible for you when he took your place on the cross and exchanged his righteousness for your sin, his perfection for your imperfection, his commendation for your well-deserved condemnation.                   

Amen