St. Luke 18:9-17 Dearly beloved,
Jesus says to enter into the narrow gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will pass through the wide gate. Narrow is the way which leads to life and there will be few who find it (St. Matthew 7:13-14). St. Luke’s gospel is brilliant for its complexities. Of course, we can say this is true because God’s word is brilliant. But, also from the logical standpoint concerning how the gospel unfolds. Chapter 6 includes Jesus’ sermon on the plain, at which point Jesus preaches about blessings and woes. Blessed are the poor; for yours in the kingdom of God--but woe to you that are rich! for you have received your consolation. Jesus lays out for us two ways--two roads. When he speaks of the poor and the rich, he is talking about more than money. Then in chapter 17 St. Luke records more preaching from Jesus. “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men....one shall be taken the other one will be left. Jesus reminds His hearers that “whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it”(St. Luke 17:33). All of this leads up to the gospel which is ringing in our ears today. The Pharisee and the tax collector are laid before us to ponder, and the goal is to get us to look at ourselves to see which of these men represents us. Which man are you? Are you the Pharisee who comes into church feeling good about yourself? Or are you the tax collector who has his sins glaring in his eyes, blinding him from anything good and noble? In this gospel is placed blessing and woe. In this gospel is the narrow gate and the broad gate. One is set for heaven, the other bound for destruction, and which is which is determined by what one believes about himself. This is so because what one believes about himself is first determined by what one believes about God. The Pharisee is pretty pleased with himself. He goes into the Temple to pray and God reveals for us what he prays: “I thank you, Lord, that I am not like other men: extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.” The Pharisee’s prayer is more about the good that he does. This gives little or no room for what God does or who God is. The Pharisee does not think much of the majesty and holiness of God. The Pharisee lacks a deeper understanding of sin. He does not look at his thoughts as being sinful, and he uses himself as the measuring rod for righteousness and goodness, and measures the tax collector using himself as the determining measure. The tax collector is just the opposite. He is not even comfortable in the Temple. The tax collector does not believe that he should even enter the presence of the Lord, let alone to pray to Him. His posture and disposition shows that he is ashamed of his sins and they make him completely and utterly unclean and unfit to be in God’s sight and presence. The prayer of the tax collector goes thus: “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” For this man, the measuring rod is God. His holiness and righteousness is the rule and norm. The tax collector sees how low he is compared to God. “Blessed are the poor,” says Jesus. This tax collector is the poor. He is the one who has nothing to offer for his sins. He is empty. His pockets have nothing to offer God for his sins. He cannot buy his way out of his sins. He can do nothing. He is alone and forsaken. Not even the Pharisee will have pity. The Pharisee even looks at the tax collector with contempt. If only the Pharisee had known that he cannot buy away his sins. If only he had known that he is alone and forsaken and without any merits of his own worthy of standing in God’s sight. Therefore, because the Pharisee thinks himself to be good and righteous, his end is the woe of destruction because he thinks himself to be rich. The true gospel comes from the mouth of Jesus: “I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” The true Christian church on earth, therefore, is the confessing church. The church is made up of those who look like the tax collector. The church is the place of sinners who approach the Lord not to boast of their goodness but to beg the Lord to show mercy. The Lord does just this for all who come to him confessing their sins. The church confesses as she believes. She comes humbly before the throne of grace with eyes downcast confessing her sins, because the church believes something critical about God. The Lord is living; the Lord is holy; the Lord is just. The Lord is the measuring line for holiness and so the church beholds God incarnate: she beholds Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. The great irony lies in the reality that what salvation looks like is God hanging lifeless on the cross. The church sees that salvation is set in place by Christ’s death on the cross. It is this reality that causes Christ’s words to ring true: “Blessed are the poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.” Those poor shall become rich through the precious blood of Jesus. Those who come before the Lord with nothing, shall leave with a gift that abounds in the Lord’s love and goodness. The church’s life, therefore, looks like the tax collector. He came into the Temple with nothing, but the love of God was placed upon him. It is the tax collector who left the Temple justified. But, it is not what the tax collector had done. Rather, it is who God is and what God has done for sinners like the tax collector. For Jesus said, “for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled, but he that humbles himself shall be exalted.” The church lives coming humbly before the throne of grace. Jesus washes His church with His own blood. The church, then, lives out her existence in this relationship of confessing and looking to God for forgiveness and for every good gift that flows out of the throne of our Lord and Savior. Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org
