9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The
Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that
I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like
this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But
the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven,
but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a
sinner!’ 14 I
tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the
other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble
themselves will be exalted.”
Following is the reflection I shared at Jubilee worship last term:
Following is the reflection I shared at Jubilee worship last term:
There once was a lovely Cathedral in New York City. Many pilgrims visited it to pray and commune
with God. It had elaborate stonework,
beautiful stained glass windows, and inspired a sense of awe in those who saw
it. One day two visitors entered the cathedral. One was a well known pastor of a very popular
mega-church. His hair was pristine; he
was wearing a trendy dress shirt and a nicely pressed pair of dress pants. He had driven 3 hours to pray at this
cathedral. The other was a homeless
woman who had wandered in off the street.
She was carrying a small garbage bag with all her earthly
possessions. Her hair was matted and
dirty, her clothing was baggy and torn, she reeked of alcohol. The pastor walked up to the front of the
church, took a seat in one of the pews, and began to pray. “God, I thank you for all the wonderful work
I have been able to do for you, and all the souls I have been able to save
through my ministry. Thank you that I am
not lazy or a drunk, like that hag back there.”
The homeless woman slumped to the floor in the back of the
church and began to weep. Her garbage
bag lay strewn across the floor. If you
got close enough, you could hear her repeating these words, over and over
again, through her sobs, “God, have mercy on me, I’m trash.” I tell you the truth, this woman went home
justified, rather than the pastor.
I like this modern version of the parable, it’s a nice
parable. It has two stereotypical
characters, like the original, and the one that comes out on top is the one I
was rooting for the whole time. I tend
to be suspicious of Christians who place more emphasis on saving souls than
trying to help people in desperate circumstances, and I believe that God’s
justice tilts toward the poor and marginalized.
I have an easy time accepting that God would turn a deaf ear to the
prayer of the pastor and reach down in mercy upon the cry of the woman.
But, I don’t think this modern parable successfully conveys
Jesus’ original story. Jesus’ parables
in general, and this one in particular have two special characteristics, they
are relevant to the audience that hears them, and they are difficult. The modern parable I just told doesn’t seem
too relevant to us, and it doesn’t seem too difficult. We want the homeless woman to come out on
top, and we want the out of touch pastor to be brought down a notch. If a parable makes us feel good and
self-assured in the end, we’ve probably missed the point, that’s not usually
the kind of parables Jesus told.
One difficulty in understanding this parable comes from the
characters Jesus uses. Anyone who has
grown up with the Bible or spent much time reading the gospels can develop a
warped sense of the Pharisees. They are
always the bad guys. If you read the
chapter heading “The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector”, without
even reading the text you can guess that the Pharisee is going to come out on
bottom and the Tax Collector is going to come out on top, it’s expected for us. But that turn of events would have been
shocking to first century Jews, Jesus’ audience. The Pharisees were a Jewish renewal movement
that desperately wanted God’s reign to come on earth. They were seeking the fulfillment of the passages
in Joel and Psalms, when God would vindicate Israel. They dedicated their lives to living
according to God’s commands, they were really serious about following God. There was just one problem, and it’s what
caused Jesus to be so harsh. In their
zeal to follow God perfectly, to do everything right, the Pharisees were imposing
unrealistic legalism on everyone. This
should be understandable to us, whenever I feel like I’ve finally discovered
the right way to do something, I want to tell everyone else, and convince them
to do it too. I like using the NRSV
because it’s gender inclusive when referring to groups of people, so it’s easy
for me to cringe when someone uses the KJV.
The Pharisees were a reform movement that started with great principles
and ideals but had stagnated into a legalistic group of elitists. Even if they sometimes missed the point, they
were still doing far more to improve the situation of the Jews than the Tax
Collectors.
The Tax Collectors on the other hand, were Jews working for
Rome. People hated them, they were
helping the Imperial occupiers take advantage of and collect taxes from their
fellow Jews. They were becoming rich off
of the misery of the poor among their own people.
So, if we really wanted to tell a modern rendition of this
story, maybe it would go something like this:
There once was a lovely Cathedral in New York City. Many pilgrims visited it to pray and commune
with God. It had elaborate stonework,
beautiful stained glass windows, and inspired a sense of awe in those who saw
it. One day two visitors entered the
cathedral. One was a woman who had
walked to the church from a soup kitchen down the block. She had just finished her daily work serving
lunch to the city’s homeless. She
advocated strongly for the rights of the homeless, and had recently spent a lot
of time lobbying against new vagrancy laws that would make sleeping in parks
illegal. She walked to the church to
conserve fossil fuels. She was dressed
in a simple blouse and pants, both made by a company who paid fair wages to its
employees. The other person entering the
church was a lawyer. He worked at a
prestigious New York law firm, made a seven digit salary, and was dressed in a
very expensive suit, made in Honduras in a sweat shop. He had just finished doing extensive work
trying to pass new vagrancy laws to criminalize homelessness. He thought the prevalence of homeless people
around the city was a blight, and that they’d all be better off if they got
jobs and stopped spending all their welfare money on drugs and alcohol. He drove up to the church in his expensive sports
car.
The woman walked up to the front of the church, sat in a
pew, and began to pray. “God, I thank
you for all the marvelous work I have been able to do. I thank you that I could make a real
difference in the lives of so many people today and that I could show them some
of your love. I thank you that I am
trying to undo the evils of systemic poverty, and that I am not cold and
callous to your children like that jerk back there.”
The lawyer fell down at the back of the church, prostrate in
his suit and tie. He began to weep
openly. Through his sobs you could just
hear him say “God, have mercy on me, I’m trash”. I tell you the truth, this man went home
justified, rather than the woman.
So, in the end, we’re left with God’s mercy. This isn’t the story of Zaccheus, the tax
collector doesn’t go and give all his money to the poor, there’s no
acknowledgement of guilt or change in behavior on the Tax Collector’s part,
just a real, deep acknowledgement of his need for God’s mercy. May God have mercy on us.
Thanks for reading,
Nate
