Old Testament: Hosea 6:1–6
Gospel: Luke 18:9–14
Psalm 51:15–20
“Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” Luke 18:9 (NRSV)
The Gospel appointed for today is a familiar one. Jesus, speaking to some who were self-righteous, popped their happy little bubble (if they listened to Him) by talking about a tax collector and a Pharisee praying in the Temple. The tax collector admits he is a sinner and cries out to God for forgiveness, while the Pharisee looks on him with contempt, and spends his time in prayer thanking God he is better than that sinner. Jesus concludes that the tax collector/sinner went home justified with God while the Pharisee, sure in his self-righteousness, did not.
It is easy to see who we are in this parable when we look at it. We are the tax collector, of course. We recognize our sin and come before God humbly asking for forgiveness. The Pharisee is easy to locate, too, as our culture provides lots of examples, from people who asked for forgiveness once long ago, and are now focused like a laser beam on the sin and depravity they see in others. Beyond that, we even have a major figure who claims not to have asked for forgiveness because he has never done anything that needs forgiving.
I wonder, though. There’s more than one way to be self-righteous, and patting ourselves on the back about our brokenness before God and our prayers for forgiveness may just be another way. You see, we don’t know what that horrid Pharisee will do tomorrow. Perhaps, we wail for our sins in an entirely pro forma way. We may be the self-satisfied, self-righteous ones in the story, because while we acknowledge our sin, when was the last time we really felt the pain and even horror that our sin has caused, not primarily to us, maybe, but to those around us? And, we may be seeing the self-righteous Pharisee the day before he is seized with repentance and beats his breast in his distress at his sins. Or he may never do that. But the real question isn’t about the sinner distressed with his sins. No, we must cease measuring ourselves against either the tax collector or the Pharisee and instead ask ourselves, “Where is our distress at our sin?”
Ed Higginbotham
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