The parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector: a cure for polaristion?
Luke 18: 9-14
Susan is not with us today because she is at the World Council of Churches 6th World conference on Faith and Order, in Egypt. Their theme is “Where now for visible unity?” – reflecting one the 1700th anniversary of the council of Nicaea (of course) and the purpose of the World Council of Churches “to call one another to visible unity”.
You might well think that we could all do with a little more unity in our polarised world – between churches of course, but between all people who find themselves, or make themselves, divided.
This week we have had the Caerphilly by-election for the Senedd – causing division as any election tends to do – and so much of the world news shows us conflict between people and reflects the sort of division which so easily leads to hatred of the other.
In our divided world, how are those who follow Jesus Christ supposed to live?
One simple answer is – following Jesus’ teachings.
So what does Jesus teach in today’s gospel reading?
Jesus tells the parable to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt”.
A Pharisee and a tax collector stand in the temple. Right from the start, Jesus gpaints a picture of a ‘goodie’ and a ‘baddie’. A Pharisee is a person trying to keep God’s law and live well… a tax collector is not only collaborating with the occupying Roman forces, but is usually accused of collecting more than they should.
But Jesus wants to show that however righteous and holy your life might be, you are not right if you treat others who are not like you with contempt.
The Pharisee prays “God I thank you that I am not like…this tax collector”.
The tax collector stands at a distance and beats his breast and says “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”.
We don’t really need Jesus to tell us that the tax collector goes home forgiven, not the Pharisee.
But maybe we do need to re-read the story and take it to heart.
There’s a cautionary story of the preacher who carefully preached how wrong the Pharisee was to be judgmental… and then prayed “Oh God, we thank you that we are not like that Pharisee…”.
We know we should be slow to judge others, and quick to try to understand a different point of view. We should never be judgmental and certainly not demonise people who disagree with us (however much we see that happening un the media).
Yet, vital though it is to be open and nonjudgmental, it can be hard to change our behaviour.
So I was interested to learn about how some sports players go about changing their behaviour when it comes to expectations of results and their attitude towards success and failure.
Earlier this week, the Today programme on Radio 4 interviewed Shaun Wane, the coach of the England Rugby League team. I realise it’s both the wrong sort of rugby and the wrong country, but it was interesting all the same.
The England team are facing Australia – who they last played in an Ashes series 20 years ago.
Australia won that series 3 - 0, so it’s a big challenge for England to face them again.
The coach talked about helping the players visualise winning, standing on the pitch exhausted but victorious – this then becomes the motivation for all their training and practice. He called it learning to “start at the end”.
Once they know what they are aiming for, it becomes easier to achieve.
If we, as Christians, are going to learn to accept others, however different they are, we need to start at the end.
To start by imagining what it would be to be loving, vulnerable, accepting of differences – and then to use this as our target.
This is why we pay attention not only to what Jesus teaches, but who Jesus is, for Jesus shows us exactly what it looks like to accept the other person, to be humble in the face of difference, to refuse to accept the voices that call for division and dispute. Jesus works to bring in the kingdom of God, where we can rejoice in diversity and where all are loved and all belong.
Jesus tells us the parable to remind us that it’s sometimes the people we least expect who can be close to the love of God – even England Rugby Union coaches.
To live like this is not easy, it is not the soft line of least resistance – it is opening ourselves up to being vulnerable by accepting that the other person, who has different views, in not our enemy but another child of God.
And if we have managed to get our heads around living like that, then Jesus reminds us that we are to be lights for the world.
If we follow Jesus we do not just quietly accept the ‘other’ and keep ourselves out of trouble; we accept the possible cost of speaking out with a different vision of the world.
And so as well as following the teachings of Jesus, and following the example of Jesus, we are called to speak out for hope and change and unity in the name of Jesus.
On final thing we might like to think about. As we hear Jesus’ story of the Pharisee and the tax-collector we are quick to learn the lesson of the Pharisee – not to judge others.
But we also need to learn the lesson of the Tax-collector, the lesson of humility and of trust in the mercy of God.
It is the grace of God which will enable us to become more and more a part of God’s kingdom – if we will open ourselves up to the work of the Holy Spirit to grow in us the gifts of love, kindness, humility and justice which we need to help our world to thrive.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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