Sermon - Trinity XI - Luke 18:9-14

Everyone wants to be righteous. Everyone wants to be a good person. It’s true. Because of our conscience we don’t want to be bad people. When we feel guilty or ashamed of ourselves, when we feel that sinking feeling in the pit of our stomach because we’re a bad person, all we want is to feel good again. Everyone wants to be righteous, everyone wants to be good. 

So let us today consider how we often think we’re good and righteous, and compare that to what actually makes us righteous. In today’s Gospel lesson, we come to the realization that Christ justifies the humble sinner. Nevertheless, our sinful hearts want to reject that truth.

So the different religions of the world invent ways in order for man to feel righteous and good. Jews say that if you’re circumcised and keep the laws of Moses and their traditions, then you’re righteous. Mohammedans say that if you believe in only one god and that Mohammed is the prophet, if you keep the laws of the koran, then you’re righteous. Papists say that if you follow the commandments of God and the traditions of the church, then you’re righteous. Evangelicals say that if you pray and wrestle with yourself until you have a new heart, or you attempt to perfect yourself, then you’re righteous. Universalists say that there are no laws, that God is not angered over sin, and thus there are no sins so everyone is righteous; unless you believe that there are sins, in which case you’re not righteous.

So you see, all of the different religions of the world give different answers as to what makes you righteous. Ultimately, all of them boil down to one simple principle: Humans are righteous and good through themselves. This is exactly what Jesus confronted today in our parable. “Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.”

So Jesus presents to us two people: a pharisee and a tax collector. Now before you start making assumptions about these two men, stop. Today when you hear of a pharisee, what do you think of? You think of a self-righteous, pompous, know-it-all, jerk who nobody likes. But that’s not what Jesus means for you to think of when He introduces a pharisee. Instead when the pharisee is introduced, think about a God-fearing, pious, generous, loveable man who goes to church. That would’ve been a pharisee. 

What the pharisee in the parable says of himself is probably true, at least in the eyes of the world. He wasn’t an extortioner who tricked people out of their money, he was a just man who treated people fairly, he didn’t sleep around or make lewd jokes. He fasted twice a week, as was customary for Jews, but he went above and beyond in tithing not only of what he earned but also of what he bought. 

So instead of thinking of some guy nobody liked, think of a pharisee as a guy everybody looked up to and admired as an example of a good person. And when you think of a tax collector, think of someone just the opposite a pharisee. Think of an extortioner, who was greedy for his own gain and a thief. A man who wasn’t just at all, but stole from the poor to line his own pockets. A man who spent his money on prostitutes and despicable living. A man who doesn’t fast and pray, a man who never tithes but loves his money. A tax collector was a guy nobody liked and lived a despicable life no one would want to imitate.

But in this parable Jesus isn’t so much concerned with what these people look like in public, but what goes on in their hearts. Consider the pharisee, “standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’”

This man’s prayer revealed his heart completely. When he prayed, he wasn’t petitioning God for anything, but simply giving thanks because he thought that he didn’t need anything from God, and for what was he giving thanks? Himself! Listen again to his prayer, “I thank you that I am not like other men… I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” In such a short prayer, who was running all of the verbs? He was! In just a couple sentences, he used the word “I” five times! 

In his mind, how had he become righteous? Through himself! In the context of Jesus’ day, the individual temple prayers took place right after the daily sacrifices, at which point the sins of the people were atoned for and all were forgiven equally. Yet this pharisee doesn’t give thanks for God’s forgiveness, but instead continues to focus on himself and treat the others around him as less righteous than he was! 

What about the tax collector? What do we see of his heart from his prayer? “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” This tax collector presents himself in great humility and contrition, feeling sorrow over his sins. He couldn’t bear to join the rest of the people, so he stood in the back where no one could see him. He couldn’t lift up his eyes when he prayed, as was customary, because he was so sorrowful over his guilt. Instead he beat his breast, pounded his chest continually through his prayers, a sign of remorse and great sadness. 

When he prayed who’s running the verbs? God! For what does he pray? It’s actually not just mercy, like our translation says, but he cries out, “God, propitiate me,” “reconcile me,” “justify me,” “forgive me,” “take away your wrath from me, a sinner!” This guy isn’t just hoping on God’s goodness and mercy, but he’s clinging to the fact that God reconciles sinners to Himself through God’s sacrifice. 

Thus, “This man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” The pharisee who thought himself righteous and just because of himself, ended up returning home as the unrighteous one while the poor miserable sinner went home righteous and good on account of God.

We need to understand this absolute clarity and certainty: we are unrighteous, unholy, sinners who deserve the wrath of God, and Christ Jesus atones for us sinners by paying the penalty of our sin on the cross, placating the Father’s wrath, and giving us a right relationship with God. This is what the scriptures everywhere teach us, that we are justified not by our own works but by the works of God.

The scriptures are clear about this, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It doesn’t matter how well you behave or not, all of us are unrighteous sinners who need to be justified. So often we behave like the pharisee and see ourselves perfect by our own merits, and yet look down on others. Shame on us! Both the pharisee and the tax collector were sinners in need of God’s righteousness, so are we. 

Let us learn from the example of the tax collector! Let us learn to be in a continual state of repentance over our sins. Let us put aside pride and take up the mantle of humility. Let us plead to God that He wouldn’t look upon the sins of our youth, but upon Christ. You see that’s what the pharisee gets wrong; he wants God to look at him. If God were to look at us and judge us based upon our works, we would all be lost as the condemnable sinners we are. So instead let us plead that God wouldn’t look at us, but instead that he would look at Christ in our stead.

That’s exactly what God does and that’s what it means to be justified. God doesn’t see you as the sinner you are, but when He looks at you He sees Christ. Your works and who you are aren’t even considered. The only thing that matters is that Christ died in your place, washed you in His blood, clothed you in Himself, so that now the Father sees you as He sees Christ: holy and righteous in His sight. So we confess with Paul, “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

Isn’t this beautiful and glorious news!? It’s the sweetest and most delightful message for us poor sinners. C.F.W. Walther says that “This teaching of justification is the bright sun of the Christian religion by which it differs from all other religions the way light differs from darkness. This teaching is the treasure which only our Evangelical Lutheran Church has kept pure and to which it holds fast. Hold fast to this doctrine, my dear Lutheran brothers and sisters!”

Let us hold fast to this beautiful doctrine of justification indeed! For by means of this teaching our hearts are given a greater comfort than the world could ever offer. Through this teaching, our conscience is made clean. Through this teaching we learn that we are in fact good, righteous people, all by the grace of God.

This matters because when you die, and we all will, and you come face to face with your last moments on earth, only one question matters: Now what? Will God receive you into heaven or not? You, a justified sinner, will lay there in your bed with no fear of death and what comes next, because you know that God will gladly receive you for the sake of Christ. It’s all been done. Before your eyes close in death, you will rejoice in Christ, saying “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Then the angels in heaven will rejoice over you, saying “This Christian didn’t go down, but up, up into his Father’s house justified, into the mansions of heaven.”