The Rev. Mark Eccles                      Proper 24, Year C                     

There’s the story of three people die and go to heaven.  The first is a nurse who has worked with cancer patients for over 30 years.  She meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he looks over her life resume and says, “Come on in!”  The next person is a teacher who has spent his whole life working with educationally challenged youngsters.  St. Peter meets him, reads his resume, and says to him, “Come on in!”  The third person is the top official of an HMO.  St. Peter meets him, reads his file, and says to him: “You can come on in – but only for three days.”

This story is meant to make us laugh, but when we look at it another way it implies something spiritually makes us wonder - the idea that being accepted by God has to do with how we’ve measured up, or performed in life. The truth however, is that God loves us unconditionally, and to think we can do anything to earn or deserve God’s love misses the mark.  Today’s Gospel calls us to think about this.

Jesus tells us of two men who are quite different.  One is the Pharisee, a pillar in the religious community, well educated and respected.  He knew the Law of Moses and followed it in minute detail.  A model citizen! 

The other man doesn’t fare so well.  The tax collector is at the opposite end of the spectrum because of his occupation.  In Jesus day, Rome collected its taxes by contracting out to agents who could charge any tax rate they wished, as long as the government received its due.  By keeping the difference tax collectors became very wealthy.

Also, devout Jews regarded paying taxes to a foreign power as treason against God, so any Jew in the office of tax collector would be regarded as the worst of sinners and would be banned from Jewish religious and social life.  

Both men went to the temple for the same reason – to pray.  The Pharisee’s prayer doesn’t sound like much of a prayer – he certainly didn’t pray to God with a humble heart – it appears he went to remind God, and maybe himself, of what a faithful person he was.

The tax collector, on the other hand, could only stand in the background saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”  He knew he had fallen short, he knew had failed God and   himself.  He stood as a broken person before his maker.

In thinking about this story my heart goes out to both men.  The Pharisee seems trapped by his religious pride, such that his heart is closed toward those who don’t “measure up” to his standards.

Of course the Pharisee’s problem of pride and feeling better than others isn’t unique to him.  Pride is a subtle sin that can easily work into our lives. The trouble with prideful thinking is that we end up comparing others to ourselves rather than looking at others the way Jesus calls us to do.

What about you and me?  How do we view others?  Do we compare people to ourselves, or we see others through the eyes of Christ?  Speaking for myself, I know I fall short all too often.

Perhaps the only comparison we should make is comparing our lives to the life of Jesus.  If we walk in his steps there isn’t room for a prideful attitude because Jesus came to be the servant of all.  It was to those the world judged most harshly that Jesus went out of his way to welcome, to offer love and hope.

And then the tax collector – my heart goes out to him as well.  He too is trapped.  His life had brought him into disgrace and how could possibly change?  If he chose to repent, how could he repay all those he had cheated over the years?  How could he ever be accepted again?  If even the religious community didn’t care about him, how could God possibly forgive and accept him?

Many struggle with similar feelings today - those who feel marginalized and see themselves as “not good enough” to come within the scope of God’s love and forgiveness.  There are a host of reasons one could feel this way: some due to sin, some not; some real, some imagined.  Many struggle in circumstances that are easy to see; many suffer alone and out of sight.  In any case, Jesus offers a new day and as followers of Christ we can help bring others to him by treating every person with dignity and respect.

So, we have this parable before us this morning, the tax collector and the Pharisee and their respective issues.  But what issue is Jesus is presenting?  In understanding parables it’s helpful to not put too much importance on the details of the story, but rather try to see the main point.  In this case, maybe it isn’t important to dwell too much on the relative merits of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  I suggest the story is not intended to make a good guy out of the tax collector and a bad guy out of the Pharisee, nor the other way around.

It seems to me the point of Jesus’ story is the importance of recognizing and admitting our need for forgiveness and then trusting ourselves to God’s love.  The Pharisee thought he didn’t need to be forgiven – in his mind he did everything right and wasn’t like those other sinners. 

The tax collector, though, knew he needed forgiveness.  He didn’t think he deserved it; his life witnessed just the opposite.  But he admitted he was a sinner and submitted himself to the mercy of God, and he walked home that day, as Jesus said, “justified”, that is, right with God. 

The tax collector’s words remind me of a prayer I’m sure some of you are familiar with – the Jesus Prayer.  It’s very simple and goes like this:

         “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
         “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
         “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The prayer is meant to a mantra, repeated over and over, off and on, throughout the day.  It’s a way to help us grow in our prayer life.

Today’s parable tells me that there is some of the tax collector and the Pharisee in all of us.  All of us are to some degree broken people.  As St. Paul tells us in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 2:23 ).”  1 John reminds us, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8).”

The corollary to that is that when we humble ourselves before God and ask his forgiveness, we appropriate his forgiveness as a free gift and are given a new start.  We read in Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:98-9).” 

Another way of looking at this is in terms of where we begin - the sequence of things. We are not called to work hard enough, to be good enough, in order to earn God’s forgiveness.  We can’t do it, although many of us have tried.

Instead, God’s forgiveness is the starting place.  Because as Christians our sins are forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can live as free people and devote our energies to loving others in the name of Christ.  We can follow Christ and walk in his steps because we are forgiven, not in order to be forgiven.  What a difference!

This morning we’re going to baptize our grandson Carson Michael, and trust him to God’s care forever.  It’s a good day!  In doing this we recognize that God’s love and forgiveness is indeed a free and unearned gift.  As far as I know, little Carson, being just 6 weeks old, hasn’t devoted a great amount of time to works of charity and mercy in order to earn God’s love and blessing.  He doesn’t have to. 

With God’s grace and with the help of family and friends he will grow up and one day  affirm for himself the vows we’re taking on his behalf this morning.  One day he’ll have the chance to own his own faith, something we’re all called to do.  In the meantime, through baptism, he will live as a child of God and nothing in all creation will be able to separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  This is his promise and our promise too.

As we join this morning in the baptism service and affirm our own faith may you and I come before God humbly and thank him for his love, his forgiveness, and the constant care he offers to each one of us.  Amen.