Sermon for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity
What's wrong with
being a pharisee?
You don't extort money.
You don't commit adultery.
You act according to the law.
You are follow the religious practices.
You fast like you're supposed to.
You give alms like you're supposed to.
Everything has been done
according to the very rules
that God has set down
for you to live your life by.
The Pharisee does nothing wrong.
But we know that's
not the real issue here,
don't we?
[PAUSE]
St Luke tells us
right from the start
why Our Lord preaches
this particular parable
"unto certain which trusted
in themselves that they were
righteous,
and despised others."
We can see exactly
what's gone wrong,
can't we?
The Pharisee despises the Publican.
But that's not surprising
if you think about it.
A publican doesn't run a pub.
He'd be more popular
with his community
if he did.
No.
This man is a tax-collector,
like Zacchaeus,
like St Matthew.
He is a tax collector,
collecting money
for the Romans who oppress
Israel and Judaea.
Not only that,
he's charging more
and creaming the profits
off the top.
He extorts
and he is unfaithful
to his country and his God
- no better than an adulterer.
Is the Pharisee not justified
in his assessment
that he is more faithful to God
than one who is not?
Is the Pharisee's sin
really that he despises
someone who is contributing
to the ruin of God's nation?
[PAUSE]
And what of this Publican?
If we look at him
as he bows his head
and strikes his breastfeeding
and begs for mercy in his sinfulness,
isn't he agreeing with the Pharisee?
So why does he go home
justified
and the pharisee not?
Well,
we know why.
The Publican
goes home a changed man
like Zacchaeus,
like St Matthew.
He has been made right,
he has been justified.
Something about him
is different.
He enters the temple
a sinner,
he leaves it righteous.
His prayer to God
is for him to be made righteous again.
He doesn't thank God
for himself
because what he knows of himself
is sin
against God and against his neighbours,
and he sees it
and he hates it.
And so,
he does what only he can do.
He comes to God
bearing only his sin
and begging for healing in his soul.
And that's what he gets.
He is made righteous.
Not just declared righteous,
made righteous,
really righteous.
And what of the Pharisee?
What does He bring God?
[PAUSE]
All God is presented with
is the Pharisee's opinion
of himself
in relation to others.
The Pharisee offers God
nothing of the reality of himself.
Yes,
he keeps the law
and respects the prophets
and fasts and gives to charity
and does all the things
that you are supposed to.
But he gives God
nothing of himself.
What does he want God for?
Clearly not for forgiveness!
A medal?
a reward?
a blue plaque on his house?
Is he asking God to receive his thanks?
Well, yes,
thanks that he is more righteous
than other people.
Why should God receive his thanks?
There's nothing real here
that the Pharisee is thankful for.
He's done the work.
He's not extorted.
He's not committed adultery.
He's fasted.
He's given tithes.
Where is God in his thanks?
It seems little more
than lip service.
The Pharisee wants nothing
and so he receives it in abundance.
He leaves the temple
unchanged,
no better, no worse.
His heart empty
and his life its own reward.
[PAUSE]
Every Mass,
we come to God
with an opportunity
to offer him ourselves
as we really are.
And we come here,
not to be smug
and happy that we're
better than others
but to bring to God
that brokenness
that needs healing.
Of course,
we bring thanks,
thanks for what God is doing
thanks that we have not
got what we have deserved,
thanks that God is willing to make us
right with Him
based on who we really are
not on how we think we are,
especially in relation to
other people.
[PAUSE]
The way that we should live life
is determined by God Himself
because He is what it means
to be righteous.
God does good
because He is what it means
to be good.
The Publican knows this
which is why he can only
approach God
in humility
not presuming on God's mercy
as a done deal,
but actively desiring it
and only expecting it
because that's how God is
and for no other reason.
The Pharisee's idea of goodness
lies in his keeping of the Law
and forgetting Who gives that Law.
If God is what it means
to be righteous,
then this means
righteousness is real
something to be lived
and experienced
and grown.
Not a list of rules
and consequences.
To be justified
means more than
"well, you're okay with me."
It means
being really infused
with God Himself.
Justification
isn't just something
that is pronounced;
it isn't just a legal statement
ratified by a judge;
it is something in us
that is planted and grows
and grows by how much
we tend it
through engaging
actively
with Our God Who
gives Himself to us
in the Holy Eucharist.
[PAUSE]
The Pharisee may do what is right
on paper
but it is the Publican
who goes home
with God in his heart
rather than scrolls
of parchment.
We, too, can leave here
with parchment in our hearts
or God Himself.
It depends on what
of ourselves we truly offer God
in the sacrifice of the Mass
and why.
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