10/22/10 The Tax Collector
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let’s have some fun with today’s gospel. As I was thinking about this story of the Pharisee and the tax-collector, I couldn’t help but wonder how well an updated version of the parable would lend itself to our celebration of our parish today at the Harvest Brunch.
So just think for a minute---how would we modernize this story to make it relevant to us? Just imagine the characters we could come up with as we play with it a bit; just imagine what we might learn from the story if it were cast in updated terms. Who might the Pharisee be? Who might the tax collector be?
We each might come up with something a little different—think of what your Pharisee and your taxman would be like.
Here’s what I came up with—my Christ Church version. Now, I want us to understand perfectly that these characters are fictional. Totally made up. Any resemblance to a person currently living or deceased is totally coincidental—as they say in the movies.
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One Sunday in the summer when hardly anyone else was in church there were two especially interesting people who came to worship.
One was a pillar of the community, as it were. He had been the head of several committees in the church over the years, had served on the Vestry, and had even been a Warden a few decades ago. He comes to Sunday services really often and he enjoys the life of the church. The other interesting person who came that Sunday was a fellow who worshiped in church only occasionally. He always stayed on the fringe, always declined opportunities to get involved, and he was not particularly known or loved in the parish.
* *
And his personal life was a mess: he’d just gone through a divorce and his own health was on the skids. He suspected he loved alcohol a little too much—but he was just in so much pain. His kids weren’t model citizens—they were often in trouble. He knew things could be better for him and his family and he yearned to be at least a little more satisfied with his life. He wanted to be freed from the pain.
So the first one, the “pillar of the church” sees this fellow come in and he thinks, “Gee, look at this guy. It’s about time he darkens the door. I am so glad my life isn’t like his. I’m so glad to be a real part of this community. After all, I come mostly every week—except maybe when the rector’s away. I have done so much for this church over the years. I give a ton of money—hey, from the statistics they just published in the Glad Tidings I see that I’m in the top 10% of the givers. That feels good. I’m glad I’m in good standing. I bet this other man over here doesn’t even pledge. I bet he doesn’t care that we have bills to pay and obligations to people in need.”
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And now it’s time to peer into the heart and the feelings of the other man—the one who hardly ever comes to church. Here’s what he’s thinking, “God, my life is a wreck. I’m in so much pain I don’t know what to do. I am just yearning to feel OK again about myself and my family. I know we’ve made so many mistakes. And we can’t turn back the clock. I am hurting so bad. Please, God, I know I am not a very good person. Please help me anyway—I need something right now and don’t know what it is. Can you help me?”
And now let’s hear the words of Jesus about the 2 fellows in our modern-day parable: “I tell you, this second man went down to his home heard by God and helped by God, rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
That’s the moral of the story: God favors the low, the weak, the marginalized. God loves people who know that their lives are a mess. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done—what horrible mistakes we’ve made—how we’ve hurt other people or even God—none of that matters. God wants us back and forgives us and brings us healing. God sends us home again, heard and helped.
And what of the pillars of the church? The pillars would do well to own the fact that they too are in need of God’s help and guidance—no matter how well put together their lives might look on the outside. They too are in need of the spiritual healing that God stands ready to pour out, just for the asking.
This is the huge implication of this gospel story: to live a life that really IS life / is to be in touch with yourself and with God even to the depths where the hurt resides. To live a godly life is to know yourself and know your need, and take it to the only One who can give you the spiritual help you crave. To take this step is a huge leap into the life that God wants for us all—just to look inside and own the history and the issues that we all have—and then seek forgiveness and healing. And then see how much more effective we can be as individuals and as a community in taking the love of God to everyone else.
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Of course one other moral of the parable is not that tithing is a bad idea! Far from it, the generosity of so many here is what keeps us afloat, and thank God for that. The moral is to know that giving is one essential way to support our work here. But any satisfaction we have from giving a certain amount or a certain percent is not a healthy attitude. Rather, we do better to take satisfaction in seeing this parish and this diocese help others and be beacons of support and wellsprings of healing. And, of course, what we all give makes this possible. So please be generous this year.
To conclude this reflection I’d like to offer this excerpt from a book I read last week by the contemporary spiritual author Thomas Moore, who calls himself a “Zen Catholic.” He says well what is the thrust of the teaching of Jesus for us, and what today’s gospel reading is all about:
Quote--“It’s the outsider, the questionable person, the one under suspicion who has the better chance [of being right with God]. What we think is proper and acceptable might not be at all a ticket to the kingdom. . . . Jesus did not come to establish a club of elite believers. He came to make of the entire world population a community of people focused on overcoming their narcissism and egotism.” [Thomas Moore, Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels, Hay House, Inc., Publishers, 2009, pp. 70-71.]
Unquote. And might I add that Jesus came to make of the entire world a community of people who are struggling to overcome all the various the barriers of economics and religion and prejudice between them, and be healed in the sight of God.
May we hear God calling us to own the places where we are in need of being made whole, and may we come with real humility before the Holy One. And may we continue to help this parish to thrive so that many more people in many more years will find here a place to learn the key to being right with God.
Amen.
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