Readings (click here for full text of the readings):
Jeremiah 14:7-10,19-22; Psalm 84:1-6; 2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18; Luke 18:9-14

I. Today we read one of my all-time favorites

A. If you asked me to sum up Christianity

1. Parable of the Prodigal Son

2. Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

3. Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

B. Two basic points

1. We don’t get what we deserve, and thank God we don’t

2. Whenever we’re absolutely-positively sure about something, we’re probably wrong

II. The parable

A. First of all – who’s Jesus talking to?

“Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”

1. We’ll come back to that later

B. Starts off by describing a Pharisee

1. He’s standing in the center of the temple, and thanks God that he’s “not like other people”

2. That sounds haughty, but this was a really religious guy

a) He isn’t some greedy corporate exec like Kenneth Lay

b) He isn’t some guy who cheated on his wife and beat his kids, and then showed up looking all holy in church on Sunday morning

c) This guy fasts twice a week – how many of us do that?

d) He gives a tenth of his income away – how many of us do that?

(1) Note to self: ask people to do just that in the stewardship sermon in a few weeks

3. So if anybody has a right to thank God he wasn’t like all the other folks, it’s this guy

C. Then in walks this tax collector

1. He’s the lowest of the low

2. He collects the taxes of the evil Roman emperor from his fellow Jews

a) He betrays his fellow believers

3. The best thing that we can say about him is that he realizes how undeserving he is

a) He stands in the corner

b) He beats his breast

c) He doesn’t dare look up to heaven

d) All he can say is: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

D. So how does Jesus wrap that up?

1. The tax collector went home justified!

“For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

III. That’s a nice story, right?

A. The sinner is justified, because he knew how bad he was

B. But there are two big problems with that story, at least for us

C. First, the Pharisee isn’t justified, and most of us are more like the Pharisee than the tax collector

1. We go to church

2. We pray, at least sometimes

3. We try to do our best

4. At least we’re not the scum of the earth, like the tax collector was

D. So Jesus isn’t just saying that sinners will be justified; He’s also saying that supposedly righteous people won’t be

E. Second, much as we might say we like this parable, we don’t listen to it very well

1. To illustrate that, I want you to imagine what happens to the tax collector in the days following his justification at the temple

2. The Bible doesn’t say anything about that, but I think we all know what happens to him

3. He changes

a) He realizes that he’s been given this remarkable gift of forgiveness, and he repents

b) He stops taking money from his fellow believers and giving it to the Romans

c) He cleans up his act

d) He starts praying

e) He gives away some of his money to the poor

f) Maybe he even fasts here and there

4. And so what happens the next Saturday, when he goes back to the temple?

a) He says to God, “God, I thank you that I am not like I used to be: stealing, cheating, only looking out for myself. Now I fast and pray and give some of my money away.”

b) Now who does that sound like?

5. As one biblical commentator put it:

“Why are you so bent on destroying the story by sending the publican back for his second visit with the Pharisee’s speech in his pocket?”

F. The Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector only means something if there’s a good chance the Tax Collector shows up at the Temple the next week, and nothing has changed

1. He’s still cheating people

2. He’s still selfish as can be

3. But at least he knows it, which is more than we can say for the Pharisee

G. But we want to rewrite it, change it

1. We’re only willing to accept so much undeservedness, so much uncertainty

a) We want to set things right and neat, even if they weren’t that way in the beginning

b) But pretty soon, if we don’t watch out, we’ve cleared up all the murky areas, and we’re acting a lot like the Pharisee ourselves

IV.There’s a lot of certainty out there

A. Windsor Report

1. Covered at the adult forum

2. I personally love the report

a) Unanimous product of a mixed panel: conservative and liberal

b) Moderate

“We can no longer be content to drop random texts into arguments, imagining that the point is thereby proved, or indeed to sweep away sections of the New Testament as irrelevant to today’s world, imagining that problems are solved.”

c) Even-handed

“We cannot avoid the conclusion that all [ECUSA, Anglican Church of Canada, intrusive bishops] have acted in ways incompatible with the Communion principle of interdependence, and our fellowship together has suffered immensely as a result of these developments.”

d) It basically says that everybody’s a little to blame, and the first step towards healing is for each side to recognize that

B. Sadly, though, neither side seems to

1. Spong

The commission has taken [a] minor crisis and turned it into a major revolution that will move Anglicanism toward the literal-mindedness that now threatens not just Christianity, but religious systems all over the world. That is not a future that anyone should welcome. If this report is adopted, it will create a church ill-equipped to live in the 21st century. Death comes in many forms - the inability to embrace new reality is one of them.

2. Akinola

Instead of a clear call for repentance we have been offered warm words of sentimentality for those who have shown no godly sorrow for their actions and harsh words of condemnation for those who have reached out a helping hand to friends in need of pastoral and spiritual care.

C. Viewing this debate in light of the parable we read this morning, it’s clear that both those bishops sound way more like the Pharisee than the tax collector

V. And now I’m going to talk about politics

A. Please don’t leave

1. I’m not going to tell you who to vote for

a) Pam’s bumper sticker: “God is not a Republican … or a Democrat.”

b) Sojourners (Wallis)

Faith can cut in so many ways … If you're penitent and not triumphal, it can move us to repentance and accountability and help us reach for something higher than ourselves. That can be a powerful thing, a thing that moves us beyond politics as usual, like Martin Luther King did. But when it's designed to certify our righteousness -- that can be a dangerous thing. Then it pushes self-criticism aside. There's no reflection.

''Real faith … leads us to deeper reflection and not -- not ever -- to the thing we as humans so very much want … Easy certainty.''

2. Too often, though, Christianity is associated with the Republican party

a) Examples

(1) Christian coalition

(2) Evangelicals as the Republican “base”

(3) Certain Christian groups threatened with revocation of their tax-exempt status for promoting one specific candidate

b) Mention of Christian left

(1) Not well known

(2) Disparate

B. I can’t tell you who to vote for

1. That depends on who you think will do the best job

C. But I can tell you, based on Scriptural precedent, what to vote for

1. Various groups pass out voter guides

a) They’re always a little biased, full of spin, leading people to endorse their candidate

b) I think the Bible is the best voter’s guide

c) And the best summary comes in Matthew 25

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

2. The right person to vote for – whether for state senate or governor or President – is the person who feeds the hungry, welcomes the stranger, clothes the naked, tends the sick

a) In short, whoever is most concerned for the poor, that’s who you should vote for

D. That’s not as easy as it sounds

1. First of all: who are the poor?

a) Certainly people who have no food or water or clothes are poor

(1) That’s why we pray for the people of Darfur in the Sudan

(a) 1.5 million displaced

(b) 10,000 per month dying (4 since I started this sermon)

(2) Sadly, though, neither Bush nor Kerry seem too focused on the genocide that’s going on there

b) There are obviously people in our own country who are hungry and thirsty and cold

(1) But we have to figure out the best way to help them

(a) Is it through private charity, or through government programs?

c) There are many sick people in this country as well

(1) 46 million Americans had no health insurance last year

(2) 81 million Americans – that’s 1 in 3 under age 65 – had no health insurance at some point in the last two years

(a) 1 in 3 Hispanics

(b) 1 in 2 blacks

(3) But we still have to figure out how to best help these people

(a) Is it through universal health coverage?

(b) Or is it through the private sector, and tax breaks, and economic improvement?

d) And what of the other poor: those whose lives are at risk

(1) What of the working poor, or the elderly living on fixed incomes

(a) Whose economic plan will help them

(i) Is it tax cuts across the board, in the hopes of spurring all sectors of the economy?

(ii) Or is a balance of services and selective tax cuts?

(2) What of the vulnerable?

(a) Those Christians who believe that life begins at conception might well vote for the anti-abortion candidate

(i) Notice I didn’t say pro-life, because neither party is truly pro-life

(a) One opposes abortion and embraces the death penalty and universal access to assault weapons

(b) One defends abortion and opposes the death penalty and assault weapons

(b) Those Christians who don’t believe that life begins at conception might focus on other issues of life and death, like the death penalty and assault weapons

(i) But even they have to admit that abortion is, at best, a tragic occurrence that no one would wish for themselves or those they love

(3) Our entire nation is at risk, because of terrorism

(a) Certainly the two candidates have different views on how to address that

VI.I haven’t given you any easy answers

A. In fact, the only thing I can say for certain is that if someone is selling easy answers and complete certainty, they’re almost always wrong

1. It’s simplistic and misleading to say that the Republicans are godly because they want to keep the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance and are supposedly “pro-life”

a) Words aren’t worth much when people are suffering as they are today

b) We’ve already seen that neither party consistently defends life

2. It’s simplistic and misleading to say that the Democrats are godly because they want to increase social spending

a) Some think that help should come from the private sector

B. The only thing that’s clear is how we should go about making our decision

1. We can use Jesus’ words from Matthew 25 to frame the debate

a) The goal is clear – how to get there isn’t

2. And we can listen to the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

a) This isn’t about who deserves what

b) We’ll never be certain about anything, except, maybe, that if we’re sure about something we’re sure to be wrong

c) And we have to remember, in the end, that that parable was directed towards us

“Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”

(1) That’s the Conservatives and the Liberals, in their response to the Windsor Report

(2) That’s the Republicans and the Democrats

(3) Everybody’s judging; nobody’s listening; nobody’s taking a cold, hard look at their own unrighteousness

(4) That’s what we’re called to do

(a) Acknowledge our own sinfulness, our own undeservedness

(b) Throw ourselves on the mercy of God

(c) And start acting like God told us to

(d) Feed the hungry

(e) Welcome the stranger

(f) Clothe the naked

(g) Tend the sick

(h) And vote for whoever is going to do that job the best


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