Our Heart of Hearts

Luke 18: 9-14: Jesus tells us that a, "Pharisee stood up and prayed to himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'" This Pharisee is our Good Bad Guy, because his prayer reveals his self-centeredness, his arrogance and lack of understanding about what prayer can be for him, and us as well. His world revolves around his arrogant ego, and so does his worship. Are we like that Good Bad Guy? Do we have an exterior that tells people how wonderful we are, how dressed for success we are, how everyone will be better for just associating with me, myself, and I? Well, you know what Jesus said about those Pharisee types? Jesus said they are like sepulchers; white on the outside, but full of the bones of dead people inside. "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'" So, here we have our Bad Good Guy, since tax collectors were Jews who collaborated with the Roman Empire, and were known for abusing the system to pad their own wallets. Yet, this tax collector went against the stereotype of tax collectors. He gives us hope that God really does grant grace, and is merciful, loving, and forgiving to we sinners! Jesus is our root of hope, and knows that how we pray demonstrates how and what we believe. We modern folks don't get the shock of it, at all. For us, it’s old news that the tax collector asked for and received mercy. But for Jesus' hearers, it is utterly shocking to think that someone who does what the tax collector does would even pray for mercy. So, let's translate it into our postmodern world: imagine a drug-dealing pimp, who uses heroin and other horrible illicit drugs to force young girls into prostitution and slavery; then slinking into the back of the church and praying for forgiveness while those he exploited stare with their mouths wide open. It would have been unbelievable to the audience listening to Jesus’ parable that all such a person had to do was to ask for forgiveness and it would be granted. It would have baffled Jesus' audience, and maybe some of us too, to learn that the piety of the Pharisee did not justify him. And yet, this is the story of the parable. Jesus' audience found it scandalous that grace was offered to such a scoundrel as the tax collector so easily. Where were the works of pardon and contrition? Where were the years of going about righting wrongs, returning the extra fees collected that made him rich while he watched his neighbors struggle to survive? At the very least he should have been made to hear a stirring rendition of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God;" the sermon preached by Jonathan Edwards in the 1700’s that pictured God dangling sinners over the flames of hell like so many insects dangling over an open flame. We don’t get any of that, do we? All we get out of the parable is the proclamation that, once he begged for forgiveness, the tax collector went home justified. For us, we can either be like the Pharisee, the Good Bad Man, or the tax collector, the Bad Good Man. Jesus uses this parable to talk to us about what's in OUR heart of hearts, and help us to not be over-confident in our own self-righteousness or arrogantly look down our noses on those around us. Because, more than anyone else, we know what's going on inside our own mind and heart of hearts. We know our inner self, and so does Jesus, because God searches our hearts and knows what we’re made of.  For some of us, that may be a scary thought! When Jesus looks at our heart of hearts, we know that He is going to be looking at the insides of a sinful person. We know that things are going to look pretty bad, measured against God’s perfection! Yet, in the end, the message of today’s scripture is simple and one that we need to hear: grace and mercy are God's to give, and forgiveness is available to all who ask for it, and righteousness is a gift, not an accomplishment; because God sent Jesus Christ to this earth to redeem each one of us. All Jesus asks us to do is to REACH OUT, and claim the perfect love that God offers to each of us, today, and every day.  

Pastor Jan