Trinity XI                                                                                                                                                   Fr. Forrest Burgett

Trinity Anglican Church                                                                                                                              Given: 09/04/11

“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other;  for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;  and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”                                                                 (St. Luke  xviii. 14.)

Our Gospel today is directly aimed at those whose relationship with the church and each other is not in order.  It starts by saying that Jesus spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.  They looked good.  But, as Jesus told another group of Pharisees, “You polish the outside of the cup and leave the inside dirty.”  Granted, they appeared to be aligned with God’s Will.  Their relationship with others reflected their relationship with the church and their relationship with the church reflected their relationship with God.  The three are always related and all were out of order.

Two men went up into the temple to pray.  One was a Pharisee and the other was a publican.  The Pharisee could have any number of vocations.  You may remember that Paul was a tent-maker.  But the requirements of satisfying every demand of the Jewish law required a significant amount of time.  Their attention to the details of Jewish law did not allow them to keep the long hours required of innkeepers or saloonkeepers.  The publican in ancient Britain was, in fact, an innkeeper or saloonkeeper.  But in ancient Rome, a publican was a tax collector.  It appears these two men were unlikely to encounter each other outside of the temple.  The most likely opportunity for these men to share the same space was at the temple.  The only activity they shared was thanking God and praying for mercy and help.

One would hope that this is the one place they might see each other as equals in the eyes of God and worthy of love as one of God’s creation.  The example of the Pharisee directly reflected the actions of those to whom Jesus spake this parable.  They not only assured themselves they were righteous;  they condemned others for failing to be so.  One sin led to another.  They were prideful of their efforts.  They forgot how far they missed the mark of God’s desire for them.  They overlooked how much they need his mercy.

These are the folks who believe God grades on the curve.  You don’t have to be perfect;  you only have to be better than the next person.  This is a common way to evaluate our efforts but this is not a competition with each other.  You can be better than those around you and still fail to make the grade.  Remember, the gate to heaven is narrow.  “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Prideful self-evaluation has an inevitable sequel.  The Pharisee and those Jesus addressed not only failed to love others - they despised others.  The Pharisee thanked God for making him better than other men.  He bragged that he was not an extortioner;  that he was not unjust;  that he was not an adulterer;  and that he was not a tax collector.  He bragged that he fasted twice in the week and gave tithes of all he possessed.  Just for the record, I am not discouraging fasting and tithing.  The Pharisee mentioned the word “I” five times in his three statements.  The only pretence of humility was the thanks he gave God for making him better than other men.  The sins of the Pharisee were openly apparent to everyone else.

On the other hand we have the publican.  We know nothing about the sins of the publican.  We don’t know whether the publican was an extortioner – we know some tax collectors were.  We don’t know whether the publican was just – we know some were not.  We don’t know if he was an adulterer.  Jesus was making a point and, as usual, only told us what was necessary.  He did not confuse us with extraneous facts.

We know the Pharisee exalted himself before God.  We know the publican was humble before God.  All we know about either one is how they presented themselves to God in the temple.  Based on that knowledge alone, Jesus gave us this conclusion, “I tell you, this man (the publican) went down to his house justified rather than the other (the Pharisee).”

We all remember the Jesus’ warning about exalting ourselves and being abased.  But “justification” is another issue altogether.  This man, the publican, went down to his house “justified”.  In the last two thousand years, there have been many different theories about achieving justification.  There is justification by works – justification by faith and works – and justification by faith alone.  This story tells us little about the works of the Pharisee or the publican.  But it does tell us how their actions in the temple reflected their relationship with God.

Nothing is more important than our relationship to God.  Our relationship to God is personal and very private.  It is not only visible to those around us through our actions.  We all express ourselves similarly at the Eucharist, but our intentions remain private.  Only our actions give and indication of what is going on in our hearts.

Two weeks ago we talked about relationships and how they could be used as a measure of our faith.  We talked about the visibility of our relationships with others and how this reflects our relationship to God.  To recap, we stated, “If we truly love God, we are compelled to love his creations.  Of all God’s creations, who is more deserving of love than those created in His image?  Not only must we love people created in His image, we must also love the church.  It too is a creation of God.  It is the body of which Christ is the head.”  In summary, we recognized how our relationship with others is a bellwether of our relationship with God.

This story tells us that our relationship to God must be one of humility.  We must be constantly seeking God’s forgiveness for our feeble attempts to live up to his Will.  It does not directly tell us how to treat each other.  Two weeks ago, we acknowledged that our relationship with the church and each other reflected our relationship with God.  Using that correlation, we can deduce that we should be approaching each other much like we approach God and as we would have God approach us.

We approach God with humility and seeking forgiveness.  We approach the church recognizing our failure to give our all to its work.  We should approach each other in a like manner.  I’m not saying we should greet each other with a “mea culpa”.  We needn’t apologize before we greet each other.  It will take a long time to exit the church if I apologize to each of you for everything I did or might have done to offend you.  I suggest we continue to greet each other as usual.  The difference we are seeking is not a shiny exterior but a renewed interior.

Humility is a funny thing.  We talk about it frequently but our society shows no respect for anyone who exhibits it.  If someone shows humility, we assume it is appropriate.  We assume they have nothing to contribute.  Humility, in our society, is another way of describing a lack of self-worth.  Our culture views humility from a self-centered point of view.

In the life of the church, humility is viewed from an entirely different point of view.  Humility defines our relationship with God and all his creation.  We don’t show humility to indicate our lack of self-worth.  We show humility to indicate respect and love for those around us.  We don’t show humility so no one will ask us to do any work for the church.  We show humility to encourage others to work for the church.  We don’t show humility so we are not expected to support the church.  We show humility so the gifts of others are fully appreciated.  True humility is an absolute requirement before we can really love others.

St. Paul’s quote to the Corinthians two weeks ago is a great guideline.  It does not tell us how to greet each other socially.  It tells us how to greet each other spiritually.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;  forbearing one another and forgiving one another. . . .And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness and let the peace of God rule in your hearts.”

It tells us to put on charity which allows us to accept people into our hearts without explanation, understanding or justification.  Granted, it is much easier to accept people when we can explain, understand and justify their actions.  But that is seldom the case so we must lead with forbearance and forgiveness.  We will often have to forego explanation, understanding and justification.  And what do we get for all this forbearance and forgiveness?  It is the only way we can let the peace of God rule in our hearts.

“Let the light of your relationships so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  (St. Matthew  v. 16.)