Luke 18:9-14
October 28, 2001
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Once upon a time there was a man who died and went to heaven. Just as he arrived, he noticed a large crowd gathering, so he asked St. Peter what it was all about. “Oh,” said St. Peter. “It’s show-and-tell time. People get to tell about memorable experiences in their lives on earth.” “Great,” said the man. “Do you think I could tell about the time when there was this hugemongous flood in our town and I saved all the people?” “Sure!” said St. Peter. “But remember that Noah will be in the audience.”
We all like to show-off some times don’t we? We like to tell people how good we think we are.
The Parable
The parable in our Gospel lesson today is a bit like show-and –tell time. The Pharisee comes to the temple to pray. This guy is really quite impressive. Shoes polished, hair combed, teeth brushed, prayer shawl over his head. He’s learned his lessons well, and he’s vying for the position of teacher’s pet. This man knows how to pray. He stands in the correct posture, arms raised, head back, praising God. When it comes to the true heroes of that day in practicing religion, it was the Pharisees.
The Pharisee has nothing to ask of God. He needs nothing. This man presumes that he is not a sinner. His prayer, therefore, is a litany of self-praise, listing his religious accomplishments: he fasts twice a week, and he gives God a tenth of everything he has. In the final act of showing off his stuff, the Pharisee gives thanks that he is not like the tax collector. He’s proud of himself. He’ll get an “A” for his outstanding performance during show-and-tell time at school. And he knows it.
Meanwhile, standing over in the doorway far away from the teacher’s desk, is the tax collector. He doesn’t even know how to pray. He doesn’t know what he is doing here or what he should do now that he is here. He is like the little kid who forgot to do his homework and tells the teacher that the dog ate it. He has nothing to show-and-tell.
The tax collector knows that he has blown it. He knows that he is the bad guy in this story. He is the crook, a traitor. For years, he has collected high taxes from every Jewish citizen, turned over the flat head tax to the Romans, and kept the rest for himself. He is rich, and guilty, his head is down for a good reason. When it comes to the most despised person in those days the tax collector is the traitor to his own people and sold out to the enemy. He beats his breast, sobbing with sadness. All he asks is mercy. He doesn’t even promise to shape himself up.
Flip Flop
This parable doesn’t turn out the way anyone expected. The Pharisee flunks show-and-tell time. “Jesus, this is not fair.” The good guy ends up being the bad guy, and the bad guy becomes the good guy. “Jesus, you must have made a mistake. You flip-flopped the ending.” But Jesus ends his message by warning that the one who puffs himself up will have the air let out of his balloon just when he stands up there in front of the classroom showing off.
We have often listened to this parable of Jesus and come away with a lesson on humility. Learn a lesson from this crook, the tax collector. Go home and be humble like him.
But there’s a problem with understanding this parable as a lesson on humility. When we listen to Jesus’ message this way, we go home thanking God that we are not like the Pharisee. We will spend all week trying to be humble. Trying to figure out how a humble person should act when all along we are like the Pharisees. We will spend all week focusing on all the little details of our lives, making sure that we are not thinking too highly of ourselves. We come back again next Sunday, praying and praising God, thanking God that we are not puffed up and filled with pride like the Pharisees.
My friends, it doesn’t work that way. In trying to be humble, we end up in the same place the Pharisee was in. Standing in front of the classroom, thinking that we have done a good job being humble, only to find out that our balloon has been deflated.
What does Jesus see in the tax collector that we don’t see? Anyway you look at this guy, he is guilty as sin. He has earned his reputation of being a bad guy. No wonder he cannot stand up and pray. He can’t look anyone, let alone God, in the eye. Why is the tax collector getting away with being the teacher’s pet when he didn’t have anything to show-and-tell?
“Just watch!” we say. “This guy will be back here next Sunday, same time, same story. He’ll stand over there in the doorway, and cry, and be sorry. But he’ll not do anything about his life. He’ll never change. Doesn’t have the slightest notion of fixing up his life up, of shaping himself up and getting his act together. Week after week, this guy comes to show-and-tell time with his hands empty.”
The Grace of God
That’s the point. That’s what Jesus sees in this bad guy tax collector. He comes back, again and again with his hands empty. He has nothing to bring, nothing to show. And he knows it.
You see, dear friends, this parable is really a story about grace. The grace of God. The Pharisee and the tax collector are the same. They both need God. The only thing is, one man doesn’t know his need and the other one does. The Pharisee had taken his eye off the ultimate goal of life to know God and was making the fateful mistake of believing that he can do it all by himself.
On the other hand, the tax collector seems “to have come to himself,” as the prodigal son did in the far country. He comes before God with his hands empty to understand the truth of the Gospel: that salvation comes by faith alone. The kid who hasn’t done his homework, brings nothing for show-and-tell is the one who goes to the head of the class. Because there is nothing, nothing, one can do to earn the grace of God. It is free.
Unreasonable Grace
We live in a world that is so used to what is expected of us. The Pharisee who represents all the faithful behaviors that we want you to practice: devout Christian faith, disciplined in fasting twice a week, and tithing to the church, turns out to not be what Jesus was looking for. “This is unreasonable,” we say.
The tax collector, whose profession even cast fears on our lives today, whose name is associated with thieves, rogues, and adulterers ends up being the person Jesus said will be exalted. This is unreasonable.
Just the idea that when I stayed up all night to gather my special show-and-tell to bring to class and I end up getting a “F” while this other guy who came to school with nothing in his backpack and said his dog ate his homework gets to be the teacher’s pet, that’s not fair! It’s completely unreasonable.
It is unreasonable according to our human expectations. But it all makes sense to God. God did an unreasonable thing when his love for the world is so great that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins.
God is doing unreasonable things in our lives when we come with empty hands, empty words, empty pockets and praying to God, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” It is only when we realize how far short we have fallen from God’s plan and desperately need for God’s divine mercy, that God does unreasonable and transforming things in our lives.
Dessert First
On this once a year, special worship gathering, we pray that we might do an unreasonable thing for God. With the stock market so bad these days, it’s unreasonable for us to give. When many people in our congregation have been laid off because of the weakening economy, it’s unreasonable to give. When we are afraid and threatened with the prospect of more terrorism and war, we want to cocoon close at home and it’s unreasonable to think about giving to others.
But when we think about eating our dessert first as an “unreasonable” thing to do before eating our dinner, we remember how God first did the unreasonable act of love by giving us Jesus Christ. When we see all the things and abundance that we have even in the midst of an economic downturn, God is continuing to grant us an unexpected, undeserved, and an unreasonable blessing.
Grace to Our Neighbor
This parable in Luke has helped us to understand the amazing grace that comes from only God. But there’s another crucial insight about grace that must be mentioned. When we understand that it is God’s grace that is at the heart of our lives, then we must also see that God’s grace is also in the hearts of our neighbors. When we acknowledge God’s graciousness toward us, we must extend our graciousness to others. It is the unreasonable thing that we do.
When we support the church’s 2002 mission and ministry budget with our pledges, you and I are showing a deep gratitude toward God for the unreasonable gift of God’s love for us. When God’s love orients our hearts rightly toward him, it also restores our right relation with the human community whom God also loves.
Friends, hear the good news of the gospel. Everyday of our lives is show-and-tell time. Inside each one of us is a little child who wants to please the Teacher, and to show off just a little bit. We stand here with our hands empty, with no air left in our balloons. That is what God’s unreasonable grace is all about. It is the only thing that will fill such empty hands. All we can do in response is to raise our voices in song, praising God for that amazing grace, which shall be our song of praise.
Dear friends, we will never know why God so loves us so. Amen.
Let us pray.
O gracious and loving God, help us to come with empty hands like the tax collector and be merciful to us, sinners. You love us so much beyond our human expectation and what we deserve. Thank you, Lord for granting us unreasonable grace so that we may also do an unreasonable thing by giving to the ministry of your church in the world. In the name of Jesus the Christ, we pray. Amen.