Trinity 11 The Sunday of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector August 12, 2018

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
August 12, 2018

“Stop Trying To Be Noticed”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

(Some thoughts of this sermon are taken from various sermons by Rev. David Petersen for Trinity 11.)

The Pharisee thanks God that he isn’t like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers. And we all think he’s a terrible jerk for it. But is it always a sin to thank God that you’re not like someone else? Is it okay to say, “Thank you, God, that I’m not that child molester in prison?” Or “thank you, God, that I’m not that mother who has had all her children taken away, is addicted to heroin, and is on welfare? Is it always wrong to thank God that you’re not someone else?

Of course not. We should definitely thank God that we aren’t an addict, a murderer, a molester, a drunk, a tax collector. And you know why we should thank God for that? Because we know how thin a line there is between us and them. We thank God because we realize just how close each and every one of us is to being in any of those shoes.  One wrong step and any one of us could be any one of them.

So go ahead and thank God. You should. Not like the Pharisee who thought it was all because he was so great and everyone else an idiot. No, thank God because you know how great God’s grace is and how you’re just as much a sinner as everyone else.

There was that time you had too much to drink and drove home anyway. A different day and different time and you could’ve been pulled over. Or you could’ve hurt or killed someone. You could’ve been fined or sent to prison.  You could just as easily be the drug addict. All it could’ve taken is one single time you could’ve been offered the wrong drug at the wrong time and you could be the one with multiple drug charges, no job or money, and a family that you deserted.

You could be anyone if God didn’t guard you from it. What if others saw everything you’ve looked at and typed on your phone or your computer? What if someone knew the inappropriate thoughts you’ve had about other people? What if the lies you’ve told were discovered?

So don’t thank God that you’re not like others because you trust in yourself that you’re righteous and you treat others with contempt. That’s the Pharisee. That’s why Jesus told this parable. Don’t thank God because you think He’s going to say, “Great job! You’re the best!” No, thank God for His unbelievable grace. Thank God that even though you’re always one bad step, one bad thought, one bad word, one bad day away from much different circumstances—He loves you and gave His Son for you.

Everything I’ve said so far is exactly what Paul says in Ephesians 2. He says, “You were that tax collector.” You were that child molester, that alcoholic, that thief, that murderer, that….. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. And if God hadn’t set us on a better path by His grace and His Holy Spirit, then we’d be walking a very different path.

If you weren’t baptized into Jesus, if you didn’t have God’s Word, if you didn’t have the Holy Spirit, if you weren’t receiving the Lord’s Supper, where might you be? Paul says you’d still be following the course of this world. You’d be going the same direction as the rest of the world. And what does the rest of the world do, says Paul? They follow “the passions of the flesh.” They “carry out the desires of the body and the mind.” In other words, if you don’t have Jesus then you just do whatever you want to do. And that doesn’t lead to paradise as the world seems to think. It leads to wrath. And death. And hell.

So before we get on our high horse and start thanking God that we’re better than everybody else, we’d best consider that if it weren’t for the grace of God, we’d be following wherever our passions and desires take us just like the rest of the world. For instance, don’t look down on a transgender or treat them with contempt. They’re following their passions and desires. If it weren’t for Jesus, you would just follow your passions too. You wouldn’t know better. We wouldn’t know that there’s something better than just what our gut tells us.

If it weren’t for Jesus, any one of us could be that loud abortion advocate who thinks we should all follow our own passions and desires even if it means ending another human life. We could be following the course of the world like so many others and not know that every human life is sacred. We wouldn’t know there’s something better than death to deal with life’s problems.

If it weren’t for Jesus, any one of us could be the addict that isn’t happy with the life God has given to him or her and would rather follow his or her passions and desires to lose themselves in drugs. We wouldn’t know that there’s something far greater and better and satisfying found in forgiveness, life, and salvation.

So we thank God. Not that we’re so great and better than all those others. We thank God for Jesus. We thank God that He has rescued us from following the course of the world. From following all our passions and desires. We thank God that, as Paul says, He is rich in mercy. We thank God for the great love with which He loved us, that even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved!

By grace. Thank God. By grace you see that there’s something better in this life. There’s Someone better. Better than just the passions of our flesh or the desires of our body and mind. God has something better for you. He knows what is truly good for you. He knows what will truly satisfy you. He knows what will save you. And all of this He gives to you in Jesus Christ and in His Word and Sacrament.

Now part of the problem for us, and for the Pharisee, and for the rest of the world is that we keep wanting God to notice us. We all do it. The Pharisee says, “God, God, look at me, look at me! Look, I’m not like all those other losers! I fast twice a week. I give my money to the Temple. See how great I am?”

And we all do the same. We want God to notice us either for how great we are or for how sorry we are. We’ll take either one. We don’t care. “God, I’m a good person. Look at me. Look how much better I am than all the other losers in the world. Look at how much I do for other people.” Either that or we go for the other—how sorry we are and how rough we’ve got it. “God, God, look at me! Look how horrible life is to me. Look at all what I’m having to go through. It’s not fair, God. Look how you gave me the wrong body, the wrong illness, the wrong spouse, the wrong family, the wrong job, the wrong mind, the wrong desires. Feel sorry for me, God.”

Children do the same with their parents. They want Mom or Dad to notice everything. We children want to be noticed when we’re doing things right. Otherwise we want to be noticed whenever anything isn’t going right for us.

But do any of us really think we’re all that different from any other human being on this planet? Are we really that much better than anyone else? Or are we really suffering that much more than anyone else? Stop trying to be noticed. You’re not any much better or sorrier than anyone else. As one pastor said, when God looks at you and anyone else better or worse than you, the difference between you and them is “the difference between two pieces of straw in a pile the size of a house. It is not great enough to be measured, statistically it is non-existent.” Rev. David Petersen, https://cyberstones.org/sermon/trinity-11-2009/

Don’t compare with the Pharisee and try to be noticed. Instead, repent with the tax collector and confess that you are as a great a sinner as everyone else. Confess that you need mercy. Confess that without God’s grace, we would all still be following the course of this world and our own passions and desires. We would be lost.

And here is your real joy—you don’t have to try to be noticed. You already are noticed by God. This is your glory and your boast. That you are created by God, redeemed by God the Son, and made holy by God the Spirit. You are absolutely noticed down to the very number of hairs on your head. Down to your every last sorrow and your every last joy. In fact, nothing goes unnoticed by your loving heavenly Father.

Children always want to get Mom and Dad’s attention but Mom and Dad already notice them. Mom and Dad notice hundreds of things about their children that completely escape a child’s knowledge.

If you’re looking to be noticed, if you’re looking for glory and honor, then look no further than at the baptismal font and here at the altar. No greater glory will you find anywhere than the fact that the Lord of all heaven and earth made you His child in Baptism, washed all your sin away, gave you the Holy Spirit, and gave you an inheritance that would make the CEO of Apple blush.

Look no further than this altar here where you and your brothers and sisters in Christ stand side by side, none greater and none less than another, and receive the very flesh and blood of the Son of God. You want to be noticed? Not like the Pharisee who thinks he’s greater than everyone else? But like the tax collector who begs for mercy? Here, God says, is my Son given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here, God says, I love you.

And finally, for the icing on the cake. Not only by God’s grace are you baptized, given the Holy Spirit, and fed with Christ’s body and blood, but you also get to do the works of God. St. Paul says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God blesses your work. The icing on the cake.

You don’t have to work to make Him love you or notice you. He already does that. But you get to work simply for the joy of it. Are you a missionary halfway around the world putting your life in danger? Great! Boast in the Lord! Have you never been outside of Central IL and you’re an introvert who finds it hard to talk to people you don’t know? Good for you. Boast in the Lord. You’re forgiven and loved. Are you elderly and battling health problems? Boast in the Lord. He loves you. Are you poor? Rich? Young? Old? Busy? Not busy? Boast in the Lord. You are forgiven and loved and He notices you always.

Boast in the Lord! By grace you have been saved! You’re a tax collector, a sinner, whom God has had mercy on. Go home justified and at peace. Go home and walk in the works God has given you to do. And know that you are noticed—not for being better or sorrier than anyone else—but because God loves you, forgives you, baptizes you, and feeds you. Boast in that!

In Jesus’ name. Amen.