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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament Reading (Genesis 4:1-15), two men in the course of time brought offerings to the Lord, Who had regard for one man and his offering but not for the other, because, the Divinely‑inspired author of Hebrews tells us, by faith the one offered a more‑acceptable sacrifice than the other, through which God commended Him as righteous by accepting his gifts (Hebrews 11:4). In the Gospel Reading, two men in a “parable” went up into the temple to pray, but only one went down to his house justified, because, the Lord in human flesh uniquely recorded by the Divinely‑inspired evangelist St. Luke tells us, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. Today well more than two people come into churches like Pilgrim—people we know, including ourselves—and some of those people by faith will offer a more‑acceptable sacrifice than the others and go home justified. Will you? Considering the Gospel Reading this morning, we ask, “Which person are you?”
You may recall from last week’s Gospel Reading (Luke 18:1-8) that Jesus told His disciples a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart, concluding that God would give justice speedily to His elect who cry to Him day and night. Immediately afterward in St. Luke’s Gospel account, Jesus told the “parable” about praying that we heard today, to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt, concluding about the need of humility for justification, or righteousness, forgiveness of sins.
The Pharisee in the “parable” typifies the people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. The Pharisee “prayed” about what he did that he might have thought would have made him righteous of himself—fasting twice a week and giving a tithe of all that he got—and so (AAT) he also “prayed” about how he was not like other “contemptible” people—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or the tax collector. Trust in oneself is the opposite of faith in Christ, and, as the Lord said through Ezekiel (Ezekiel 33:13), someone who trusts in his or her own righteousness and does injustice shall die for that injustice. Are you like the Pharisee?
The tax collector in the “parable” repentantly beat his breast and prayed for God to be merciful to him, a sinner. The tax collector expressed both his consciousness of his sin and his desire for grace, the only attitude that permits one to stand before God (Stählin, TDNT, 8:264). The tax collector did not try to use his own good works to build a relationship with God (Rengstorf, TDNT 1:331), nor did he hypocritically compare himself to anyone else. The tax collector seemed to know who he was in relationship to God and what he needed from God, and he trusted God to give that to him not because of anything the tax collector had done but because of Who God is. Are you like the tax collector?
We may not be extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or like the tax collector was perceived to be, a dishonest traitor to his country, but by nature we are like both the Pharisee and the tax collector in that we are sinners. We sin by trusting in ourselves that we are righteous and by treating others with contempt. We sin by not always being content with what we have, by not leading a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and by being unrighteous in countless other ways. If we exalt ourselves before God, He will humble us away from His presence for eternity. But, if we, enabled by God, humble ourselves, God will exalt us in His presence for eternity.
When like the tax collector we confess our sin and seek God’s mercy in faith, then God forgives our sin—all our sin, whatever our sin might be—and so we go home justified, made righteous, forgiven, for Jesus’s sake. Repentance and faith are the difference between Cain and Abel, between the Pharisee and the tax collector, and between some of us coming to church today and everyone else. We humbly do not trust in ourselves that we are righteous, but we trust in God to give us Christ’s righteousness—righteousness Christ earned actively by keeping the law perfectly for us and righteousness Christ earned passively by suffering and dying in our place. Although Jesus Christ was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:8-9.)
Whether as an infant like those in the Gospel Reading, seemingly first treated with contempt by the disciples, or as an older child or adult, we are baptized into that Name, and so we receive the Kingdom of God that thereby belongs to us and that we so enter into by simple and confident trust in God and how He acts to save us. In the Gospel Reading people wanted Jesus to touch the infants, to lay His hands on them and to pray (Matthew 19:13), that is, to bless them, but the Early Church blessed the infants not with a laying on of hands but as we do today by the application of water in Holy Baptism. Baptism is no mere Christening or naming, dedication or act of obedience, but a real Means of Grace, by which God saves those who are baptized (1 Peter 3:21). Similarly, unlike the fake “thanksgiving” of the Pharisee in the Gospel Reading, we have a real thanksgiving, or “Eucharist” (from the Greek word used for the thanksgiving), as we thank God for what He has done for us in His Son and as we receive that Son’s Body and Blood in the bread and wine of the Sacrament of the Altar, and thereby also receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. He invites us to this table fellowship, and here He makes us holy.
Holy does as holy is. Given Christ’s righteousness, we might well fast (that is, go without food or drink) twice a week or at other times, such as in Lent, and we may well give of all that we get one tenth (or more or less), not pointing to such deeds as the basis for but rather the evidence of our righteousness. (To be sure, God Himself does not “need” our offerings of any percentage, but His Church on earth does need them, for its work in this and in every place!) We treat other people not with contempt but as fellow sinners for whom Christ also died and to whom He shows mercy, and so we extend to them God’s call to repentance and faith, and we forgive their sins against us. We are content with what we have; we lead sexually pure and decent lives in what we say and do; and we are righteous in countless other ways. And, when and where we fail to be so righteous, as we will fail, with daily repentance and faith, we live in God’s forgiveness of sins, constantly humbling ourselves so that He exalts us.
Two men in the course of time brought offerings to the Lord, and two men in a “parable” went up into the temple to pray: “Which person are you?” By God’s grace we are those who by faith offer a more‑acceptable sacrifice than the others and go home justified. At a minimum, we offer a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that acknowledge, or “confess”, His Name (Hebrews 13:15). With St. Paul in today’s Epistle Reading (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18), we believe that the Lord will rescue us from every evil deed and bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom, and so with him we say, to Him be the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +