A Cut Above the Rest

Text:  Luke 18:9-14

            Rapt by the colourful way the Sunday school teacher told the story they vividly pictured the Pharisee thanking God that he was not like the tax collector who stood at a distance, head hung in shame whispering a prayer for mercy.  The children bowed their heads for the closing prayer.  The teacher thanked God for all they had learned and then intoned the closing sentence, “Lord, we thank you that we are not like the Pharisee.  Amen.”

            Superiority seeps out in subtle ways.  “There is a story of a rabbi and a cantor and a humble synagogue cleaner who were preparing for the Day of Atonement.  The rabbi beat his breast, and said, ‘I am nothing, I am nothing.’  The cantor beat his breast, and said, ‘I am nothing.  I am nothing.’  The cleaner beat his breast, and said, ‘I am nothing, I am nothing.’  And the rabbi [turned to the cantor and pointed at the cleaner.  He] said to the cantor, ‘Look who thinks he’s nothing.’”[1]

Play Ronnie Corbett/Barker and John Cleese ‘Class’ Sketch...

            There’s no suspense.  There’s no wondering about what it’s all about.  The last page is read first.  The resolution is in the trailer before the movie hits the cinema.  Luke tells us who the parable is aimed at before he lets Jesus say a word. 

It’s a story to ‘some’ not ‘all’.  It’s a story aimed at those who thought they were a cut above the rest.  Sure!  They had sins to be forgiven but they were not as bad as the sins of others.  Sure!  They needed God’s grace but somehow they felt they were worthier than those they looked down upon.  They were confident that they were right before God and that he would look favourably on them.[2]  In the ancient world in which Jesus lived, the wealthy and powerful tended to think that this was a sign that they were righteous – favoured by God.  They regarded the poor as receiving their just deserts.  Poverty was linked with not being favoured by God and even with sin![3]

            The contempt for others held by the smugly self-righteous is not unlike the disrespect that the judge had for God and the widow.  The judge is a cut above God and a cut above the people.  His station in life means that he doesn’t have to take notice of anyone.  It is only the persistent pleading of the widow that causes him to relent in justice.

            There is a similar contempt shown by the disciples towards children.  They turn away infants from being touched by Jesus because they believe that they are not important.  Jesus welcomes the children and declares that it is only the vulnerable – the insignificant – the weak who can enter the kingdom of God. 

            The judge, the Pharisee, and the disciples hadn’t cottoned on to the profundity of Mary’s song:  “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (1:52-53).  They hadn’t digested the words Jesus read from the scroll in the Nazareth synagogue.  Good News to the poor.  Today.  Fulfilled.  In your hearing.  The new community created by Jesus will feast round a table where there will be no class distinction.

            The reason the Pharisee is chosen as a main character is not because Jesus is attacking all Pharisees as pompous hypocrites.  Rather, the Pharisee represents a member of society highly regarded by all.  The tax collector is chosen not because Jesus is showing all tax collectors to be contrite.   He chooses these two figures as foils to each other.  The Pharisee represents all that is good and respectable.  The Pharisee is meticulous in religious observance.  They are educated.  The tax collector represents all that is detestable.  They are traitors colluding with the Romans to collect revenues to feed the machinery of the Empire.  They were dishonest profiteers. 

            Two classes of men make their way up to the temple.  The Pharisee strides into the inner courts of the temple.  He stands by himself and prays.  Standing was the normal posture for prayer.  Praying softly was common.  Thanking God that he was not like ‘other people’ was a prayer of piety.  It was not regarded as arrogant.  When the Pharisee thanks God that he is not like thieves, rogues, adulterers, and like that tax collector over there, it’s is quite likely he was being genuine.  His prayer was not unlike when we look at the dysfunctional family that lives next door, the alcoholic, the drug user and the person with the chaotic lifestyle and say, “There go I but for the grace of God.” 

The religious practices of this Pharisee would not have been usual amongst the Pharisaic group.  Part of their spiritual practice was to go above and beyond the call of duty.  Whilst fasting was encouraged yet it wasn’t required.  The Pharisees were rigorous in fasting on Mondays and a Thursdays.  Early believers were encouraged to fast as often but on Wednesdays and Fridays.[4]  Jesus himself encouraged fasting but without much ado.  In the matter of tithing he also went beyond the requirement of the Torah.  It was required by Law to tithe farm and garden produce.  This Pharisee tithed on all his income and possibly even everything he bought![5]  This Pharisee had impeccable religious credentials and had every reason to feel that he was OK as far as God was concerned. 

This Pharisee is every one of us who is quietly confident that we are ‘saved’ and we’re going to heaven.  “Lord, you know I read my Bible.  I pray everyday.  I go to church.  I give generously to church funds and make sure to donate to various charities.  I’ve played my part in the church for years.  I volunteer in the community.  I’m careful to keep an eye out for my neighbours.  I’ve always work hard, tried my best, and saved my money.  I’ve never scrounged off the state.  I do feel sorry for people who’ve made foolish choices and ended up homeless or in prison.  I pity the folk who’ve squandered their money on booze and smokes.  I’m so glad that I had the right upbringing.  Thank you God that I’m not like them.”

The tax collector wends his way through the streets of Jerusalem and enters the temple.  He stands far off in the outer courts of the temple.  He’s knows his place.  He knows that people think he’s a scoundrel.  He knows that people will be tut tutting at his brazenness.  How dare a man in his unclean profession enter the house of prayer!  He’s the lowest of the low.  A leopard cannot change its spots.

Eyes fixed on the ground he thumps his chest.  He pummels his heart which he knows is full of sin.[6]  The tax collector knows that he doesn’t stand a chance before God.  He can’t reel off a list of pious practice.  Instead he knows that his life story is run through with fraud, his profession making him a weapon of oppression.  He’s knows that there’s no hope except if God forgives him.  “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 

The tax collector expresses what grace is all about.  Forgiveness is sheer gift.  Being put right with God happens when we know our helplessness to set things straight.  The tax collector expresses what it is to be a child.  Entering the kingdom of God as a child is being bankrupted of class status and self-importance.  Entering the kingdom of God as a child is when we have no value – no identity – a part from God’s gracious acceptance of us. 

Think of a time when you looked at someone and thought, “Ooo....  I’m sure glad I’m not like you.”  Make a mental list of what makes you feel like a good Christian.  Have you ever noticed feeling like you’re a cut above the rest?  Have you ever had that feeling, “Yes, I need God’s forgiveness but I’m sure not as hard to forgive as them”?  Have you ever wondered, “Why am I having such a tough time when those benefit cheats seem to get away with what they do?  I’ve done everything right and yet everything in my life goes wrong?  I don’t understand why the bad ’uns have such an easy time?  It’s not fair.” 

“In Touch and Live, George Vandeman writes:  A young stranger to the Alps was making his first climb, accompanied by two stalwart guides.  It was a steep, hazardous ascent.  But he felt secure with one guide ahead and one following.  For hours they climbed.  And now, breathless, they reached for those rocks protruding through the snow above them – the summit.

The guide ahead wished to let the stranger have the first glorious view of heaven and earth, and moved aside to let him go first.  Forgetting the gales that would blow across those summit rocks, the young man leaped to his feet.  But the chief guide dragged him down.  ‘On your knees, sir!’ he shouted.  ‘You are never safe here except on your knees.’”[7]

            When you’re on your knees before God you see clearly that all human beings stand before God equal.  There’s only one prayer to be uttered, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”