Suggested Text: Luke 18:9-14
Lectionary Week: Proper 25 - OT 28 - Pentecost 19
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Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `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.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This past Wednesday I stood on the edge of a large hole in lower Manhattan. I peered through the fence at this place now known around the world as ground zero. It seemed in many ways as if time was standing still as a strained to see the destroyed roof tops and the many “scars” that could never go away from the horrible day when tragedy, again, struck this world.
The Gospel lesson for this week resonated in my heart as I walked quietly and prayed….quietly, for answers to many of life’s big questions. I sat in St. Paul’s chapel, a place of respite and care for the thousands who worked night and day in the recovery efforts, and I thought of our place of peace and Grace here in Radford. I prayed for each of you….that you would be safe and near to those you love. There in St. Paul’s, that little church where not even a pane of glass had been broken despite standing only yards from the base of one of the towers (a real miracle!), the Holy Spirit was as real and as close as you could ever imagine.
The Gospel lesson this morning is about GOING UP and COMING DOWN. It is about the way in which we live our lives and the way that God lives in us. The Pharisee seems interested in being seen as a devout man of prayer and the tax collector is only interested in the mercy of God.
Pride gets in the way so often and so easily in our daily walk with God. Sometimes it takes tragedy to rip a hole in our heart before we realize our utter dependence on the Grace and strength that can only come from almighty God. I would testify that looking into that great hole was a glimpse into the broken heart of God. Seeing the displays at the exhibit at St. Paul’s was testimony that in fact God was indeed very near.
Allow me to share a couple of examples from the displays in the chapel: On one side there was what appeared to be a large clothing rack covered in these bright colorful, rainbow-like chains. At first glance I thought they were strings of paper flowers, but upon closer inspection I realized they were origami peace cranes (just like the ones we made at Grace). I looked closer and was then blessed to discover from where these cranes had come. The children of schools in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, all of them direct descendants of the survivors of the nuclear bombs that struck Japan in the second WW, had folded these cranes as a symbol of solidarity and hope. They responded in love to perfect strangers offering symbols of HOPE & PEACE.
As I sat in the third pew on the right I looked up to the balcony and noticed a banner there….Nothing spectacular about it. It was signed with hundreds of names. Then I looked at the side of the sign and realized it was sent (and signed) by members of the families and friends of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Two relatively quiet acts of prayer, which today continue to touch literally thousands of people.
That hole in the ground in lower Manhattan will one day be filled again. The construction has already begun. But the holes that exist around this world will never completely go away….Perhaps because people will allow their hearts to be filled with pride, and selfish ambition, and thoughtless directionless addiction. We are a fallen people…..and today and every day God gives us hope. Hope in the midst of our despair. God’s promise to us today is that we will indeed be “exalted” and (2 Tim. 4) “rescued from every evil attack”. I believe this to be true. It is my faith in God’s love that empowers me to rise from my bed in the morning with hope in my heart. It is my faith in the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection that frees me to peer into the darkest pits of evil without losing hope in a day when death shall be destroyed.
Going Up and Coming Down! Will you chose the faith-life of a Pharisee this day and go about with your hollow prayers and empty expectations? Or will you learn the faith of the tax collector…..A man who was surely a cheat, a thief, a man with no ethics – Jesus chooses a tax collector in this parable for the same reason he chose Samaritans in other parables in the Gospel – BUT…a man who discovered he was a sinner and needed transformation. He discovered that he could not live outside of the mercy of God.
Sometimes things in us must be broken down to open us to the possibility of being built up in Christ. Perhaps our church is going through such a time. People are saying we cannot make it. We will split…There is a great divide in the middle of our denomination. And I say: Christ is not divided except that he is broken for us…but not so that we carry on in disunity, but so that we might be ONE. “We break this bread to share in the body of Christ. Though we are many we are ONE BODY, because we all share one bread!” This is our faith.
Our country is also divided right now….Are you a Republican, a Democrat, Independent, or something else…or just fed up? Families and friends are fighting over issues and upcoming elections and people are talking about an America that is split. When that big hole opened up and swallowed up those two buildings in Manhattan there was little division….There was a natural outpouring of love and generosity. Where has that gone? Have we lost our way? Are we guilty of Phariseeism….walking about having all of the answers, self reliant, needing no one else, and always looking to be at the front of the line with all of the toys!
On Tuesday this week as I walked through LaGuardia Airport I bumped into President Jimmy Carter as he was rushing to launch his new Novel. It caused me to begin thinking about important things and important people. The book I was reading had an account of another President written by former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan who was telling the story of being on Air Force One. He was in the back compartment of the jet while President Reagan was in the front of the compartment. The phone rang in the back compartment and the voice said, “Mr. Donovan, the president would like for you to join him for lunch.” Secretary Donovan straightened his tie and thought to himself how important he was to have the president of the United States ask him to lunch.
Just as Donovan walked through the doorway into the president’s compartment, the red phone rang, the Presidential Hot Line. Wow–what a moment to be present!, Donovan said. I really am important…and President Reagan picked up the phone and said, “Yes—uh huh. Yes–what are my options’” …. Donovan’s heart almost stopped. His mind raced. Then President Reagan continued, “OK. I’11 have the iced tea!” And in that moment Donovan said his ego was thoroughly deflated.
Perhaps we would all be served to consider the ordinariness of even the most extraordinary people. Perhaps it would help us to better see ourselves as surely God must see us….riddled with holes and hurts, and longing for a “building up!” It seems that each step of my life since looking into Ground Zero has been filled with this sort of longing…This hunger to be REAL, and Refreshed…and to be a daily recipient of God’s mercy.
While waiting in the airport I was reading an Agriculture magazine which explained the process of harvesting wheat (The things we do when a flight is delayed!). There were pictures of the wheat fields and close ups of the plants….many of them standing tall and many bending over in the field as though about to die. The wonderful irony of the story was that the article said that the healthiest of the plants, the ones bursting with the most seeds, the ones with the most promise, the ones that will produce a rich harvest, are the ones that were pictured “bending low”. The ones standing the tallest are almost completely empty of seeds….What a perfect picture of humility!
Often times we become confused about where true spiritual substance is to be found. Many of us who are bent over with the weight of our lives must also realize that we are full of the hope that can indeed be baked into the very loaves this world is so hungry to eat. Jesus says, “come to me all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!”
But the journey of the Christian pilgrimage is one filled with the temptation to take the easy way out….to come up with easy explanations….to come up with legalism to keep from struggling with the weight of decision-making….to become Christians who really have nothing to do with Jesus Christ (and the tough message he gives us!). Don’t follow rules, follow Jesus. Don’t allow the Bible to limit your perspective but allow it to be a catalyst of growth. Don’t use others but allow God to use you to serve others!
There is an ancient proverb that goes: “Live today like it might be your last, learn things like you might live forever”. I hope that when you go about your daily lives this day and this week and this month you will embrace the challenge to live for God….knowing that he came into this world to live and die for you.
And so may we exclaim with St. Paul one day “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” May God Unite us! And build us up as the Psalmist says, into a “strong tower….where the righteous come in and are saved!”
Going up and Coming Down! May this be a description of our prayers and our lives and God’s responsive Mercy and Grace.
Amen.