October 27, 2013
Pentecost 23
Joel 2:23-32
Luke 18:9-14
(prayer)
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.
It sounds like a vaudevillian joke: “a tax collector and a pharisee walk into a temple …”
Two people; two prayers.
[standing, eyes open to heaven]
“God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”
[down, eyes closed]
13… “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Two very different people; two very different prayers:
Pharisees were respected leaders of faith. They were teachers of practical faith (more ethical than theological: like say, scribes or Sadducees) - champions of social justice. They taught that we interact with a ‘spiritual world’ all the time, they hoped for a future with an after-life and they preached that there was an inherent equality in all people under the torah.
Tax Collectors (in Judea during the Roman era) tended to be self-serving, greedy and willing to experience a social outcasting as a fair exchange for the healthy profit they could make collaborating with the empire.
So, as Jesus tends to do with his parables, the impression you have of the characters initially may not be a complete interpretation of who they are.
1. Pharisee: respected leader, champion of equality.
2. Tax Collector: roman collaborator, selfish and greedy.
But then Jesus lets us over hear their prayers - not just with our ears but also with our eyes.
The Pharisee, is upright, eyes open to the heavens - he prays a loud, prideful prayer: “Ohhh God, what a great life I have. I am so thankful that I am better than anyone else - take for example, O God, this tax collector over here. Surely, he’s not a great as me. I’ll bet you he doesn’t fast twice a week like me, or give 1/10th of his income to the temple, as you, O God, know I do.” It was nothing short of a self-serving, arrogant speech, disguises as a prayer.
And in the distant, the tax collector, is eyes down, he is beating his chest. If he is loud, it is not to put on a show for others, it is because the passion of his prayer cannot be silenced: “Have mercy, God. Have mercy! I have lived poorly, unfaithfully; I am a sinner! Have mercy!”
Both of their prayers expressed honestly what they believed in that moment. The Pharisee was happy with his life; the tax collector, ashamed. The Pharisee wanted a holy pat on the back, the tax collector wanted a hug of forgiveness from God.
Jesus’ conclusion: the tax collector’s prayer was more on the mark - more what God would desire.
Both were honest - but only one was humble and vulnerable. Both prayers were heart-felt, but only one sought an overall better life for the community.
The fortunate one was not the one who prayed about how fortunate he was. The Pharisee wanted more of the same. He defined himself on the misery of others. The tax collector, just wants enough to move ahead in life on a better path.
//
It is not easy for biblical scholars to precisely date the book of Joel. It mentions the temple, but it is unclear whether this was Solomon’s temple from before the Babylonian exile, or the rebuilt temple after the exile was over. What we do know about the context is that there has been a recent history of drought and insect infestations that have resulted in very poor harvests. What Joel celebrates in the beginning of our passage today is that the spring rains have started. The harvest is a long way off, but this is a very good sign. The early rains are enough to feel the blessing. This year will be different, the prophet predicts - the harvest this year will be a payback for all of those crops the locusts got to enjoy.
You shall eat plentifully, you shall not need to be ashamed! You will have enough.
//
As I have confessed before, I am a city boy. The smallest place I have ever lived was Swan Hills and it is a good hour’s drive from the nearest farm. But I hear people talking that this year’s harvest is (on average) a pretty good one.
Every farmer knows that even with the best planning, the perfect choice of seed and fertilizer and pest and weed control will mean nothing without the luck of good weather at the right times.
//
Jesus’ Pharisee felt very fortunate for his life. He would have counted the quality of his life as a ‘fortune’ Fortunate and fortune have same word root, but we hear them very differently - ‘fortune’ is often interpreted as earned. Whereas, ‘fortunate’ involves luck.
I would assume that both they Pharisee and tax collector had fortunes, but who was truly fortunate?
Jesus challenges his readers to see that the fortunate one is the one who sees value in humility - for charting a better path in this life.
//
As harvest gives way to the first hints of winter, we are reminded of the seasons of growth and rest. Each of these is an obvious blessing.
Scarcity and busyness can make the blessing hard to see. In a world where we are told we never have enough (time, resources, everything), can we find that moment where we know that we are where God needs us to be – where we are? And that this is more than enough!
//
For the Pharisee, it was enough to see people worse off than him to feel good about his own life. Somehow, I imagine, that even if nothing changed in the pharisee’s life, the fact that the tax collector sought to be a less selfish, more community minded person, would have left the Pharisee longing for more.
It is one of the reasons I am baffled by the staunch opposition I see on the US news to health care, immigration reform and same sex marriage. Why does the fact that more people will have a chance to be healthy, more people can enjoy the security and status of marriage and more people can enjoy the benefits of citizenship, have to make those who already have those advantages feel slighted somehow.
If the only value in our lives comes from seeing others worse off than ourselves, no matter how much ‘fortune’ we have, it will never be enough.
//
Joel didn’t need to wait until the harvest to have a hopeful confidence: the early rain was enough.
The second half of the Joel reading looks to a hopeful future beyond even that year’s harvest - to a time when people will experience the unity that come with God’s Spirit. He imagines a world that the distinctions of age and gendre and social status will melt away as God’s spirit rains down on the world.
//
The tax collector had to look deep with inside himself - nowhere else to see where life needed to improve.
As we delve deeper into what it means to live as one, we often grapple with internal and external barriers, histories of shame, and feelings of unworthiness. Our scriptures this week celebrate how nothing stands in the way of God’s love, and no distance is too great for God’s grace to reach.
This is very good news.
Let us pray:
God, thank you for making us who we are – unique and unified. May we grow in mercy to heal the separations between us.
Amen.
#375VU “Spirit of Gentleness”
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