Scriptures: Joel
2:23-32, Psalm 84:1-7, 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18,
Luke 18:9-14
In the 1995 movie Judge Dredd, based on a comic strip
character, Sylvester Stallone plays Judge Dredd, who functions as judge, jury
and executioner rolled into one as he maintains order in a megacity of the
future where violence is rampant. As he
points his voice-activated weapon at the criminals he apprehends, before
imposing sentence, he intones the words, “Prepare to be judged.”
I thought of this movie quote – “prepare to be judged” - as
I read today’s Gospel lesson. Today’s
Gospel reading is the second of two back-to-back teachings from Jesus on
prayer. Remember in last week’s reading,
we were taught how to pray – persistently, unceasingly, like the widow
pestering the crooked judge for a just ruling in her case. This week, we’re taught how not to pray.
Jesus tells of two men going up to the Temple to pray, a
Pharisee and a tax collector. (Sorry
Margie!) We’re told that the Pharisee
stood off by himself, not wanting to get too close to the unwashed crowds, and
prayed – and here’s his prayer: “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.” The tax collector, meanwhile,
was ashamed even to look up at heaven, but beating his breast, he said, “God be
merciful to me, a sinner.” And we’re
told that the tax collector, not the Pharisee went home justified – that is to
say, brought into right relation to God.
For all who puff themselves up with be humbled, and all who humble themselves
will be exalted.
The parable seems fairly straightforward – do be humble like
the tax collector, don’t be in love with your own righteousness like the
Pharisee. Yet, while the parable seems
straightforward, it may seem irrelevant.
After all, there aren’t too many of us standing up in church and
bragging before God about our fasting and tithing, thanking God we’re not like
that schmuck cowering over there in the corner.
And yet, this is how Christians are seen by many outside the
church, particularly younger people.
Surveys of non-Christian millennials – those born since the early 1980’s
– find that the three words they most frequently associate with the term
Christian are “anti-gay”, “judgmental”, and “hypocritical”.[1] Young people still like Jesus…but find little
resemblance between Jesus and those in the church. As a result, some believers
are beginning to avoid using describing themselves as Christians, preferring to
call themselves “followers of Jesus” – because the word Christian carries so much
negative baggage. Surveys also find that
while almost 80% of those born before 1964 identify as Christian, less than 60%
of those born after 1981 do so. Meanwhile,
roughly a third of those born after 1980 identify as religiously unaffiliated –
the so-called “Nones” –none as in n-o-n-e – short for a religious preference of
“none of the above”.[2] There are reasons why religious affiliation
has dropped among younger people. For
some reason, for many people, hanging out with church folk who are anti-gay,
judgmental, and hypocritical, who act nothing like Jesus, isn’t a turn-on. When they do find the courage to approach the
front door of the church, they may well expect to look up and see the words,
“Prepare to be judged” posted over the entrance. Now, it isn’t like this only applies to
younger people; I’ve heard plenty of folks my age and older – some of whom I’ve
invited to come here to Emanuel - tell me that if they ever walked into a
church, the roof would fall in or God would strike the church with lightning. They usually laugh when they say this, but
behind the laughter is often painful past experience with feeling publicly
judged or shamed. And when the primary
message people receive from church is “you’re going to hell”, not surprisingly
many folks are perfectly happy to respond by saying, “to hell with the church”.
It’s not like the church has a monopoly on being judgmental
– those outside the church have their own ways of being Pharisees. Those with solid jobs who own their own homes
may pride themselves that they’re not like those so-called welfare queens
mooching off the government and living in free public housing. Vegans may pride themselves on eating only
organic, free-range, gently-talked to vegetables, telling those who eat meat
that “meat is murder”. NRA members may
look down on those seeking limits on gun ownership as “gun grabbers” unwilling
to defend their own families.
Environmentalists may look down on those who drive Humvees as planet
killers. (I should also mention that I
look down on slow drivers who monopolize the passing lane. We all have our pet peeves.)
You get the picture. It’s hard to get to know people when we’re
looking down on them, just as Pharisee, standing off by himself, had no way to
get to know the tax collector, and didn’t particularly want to. On all sides of the questions that divide our
society, people are doing things that are admirable – working hard, holding
families together, supporting the church, trying to live in a way that is good
for the planet, caring about those who are less fortunate. These are good values, all of them. But when we use them to think of ourselves as
better than others who don’t share our values, when we think the values we have
are the only values worth having, our values become idols, and instead of
trusting in God, we worship our own righteousness. We huddle with our own kind, and of other
people we say, “What’s going on in those peoples’ heads? How can those people
even think like that?”
Enough about the Pharisee’s prayer. Time to talk about that other prayer – the
tax collector’s prayer. The Pharisee
thought the tax collector was the scum of the earth – and surprisingly, the tax
collector would have agreed with him. The tax collector had no illusions about his
own virtue. When he prayed, he confessed
that he was a sinner and literally threw himself on the mercy of the court, on
the mercy of God. And we’re told that God’s
mercy is what he received. The Pharisee
thought he had no reason to need mercy, didn’t ask for mercy, and didn’t get
mercy. But each one got what they came
for – the Pharisee came for a chance to feel smug and superior, and got it, and
the tax collector came for mercy, and got that.
We’re told that the tax collector not only received mercy,
but was justified, put in right relation with God. And the right relation with God, for him and
for us, is realizing that all of us are created in the image of God – all of
us, even those we look down on – that all of us fall short of the glory of God,
that all of us are in need of forgiveness.
As the song went, “Not my brother
or my sister but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” But so long as we can admit we’re in need of
prayer, in need of healing, in need of growth, we can be in right relationship
not only with God but with neighbor.
After all, Jesus told us to pray, not only for our friends, but for our
enemies. And we can learn from people
who are very unlike us – at the very least, we can learn empathy for their
struggles.
This is not to say that “anything goes” or that, when others
behave in ways that are disruptive, that there’s no room for correction. But there’s a difference between speaking
the truth in love and calling someone out and shaming them. Far better than calling people out is
calling people in, upholding standards in a way that still keeps folks
connected to the community. While we
need to safeguard the community from danger to life or health and property loss
or damage, the challenge is, as much as possible, to speak from our experience
but also to try to understand the experience of others, to encourage the best
from one another without driving one another away when we fall short. Jesus’ parable reminds us that we are called
to confess our own sins, not the sins of others.
The tax collector, and not the Pharisee, returned from the
Temple justified, put into right relationship with God and neighbor. May our neighbors know this congregation, not
as a place of judgment, but as a place of love and welcome. Amen.
[1] http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-10-10-christians-young_N.htm
[2]
2014 Religious Landscape Study, Pew Research Center, http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/pr_15-05-12_rls-01/
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