A Pharisee; A Tax Collector; And An Infant

The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the Gospel lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last week in our adult bible class we had a spirited discussion on the question: “Does God reward our obedience to his will?” And the answer to that question is “Yes, he does.” The class was a little bit taken aback when I said that and maybe you are too—so let me give you some examples.

The Fourth Commandment about honoring our father and mother has a promise attached to it: “that your days may be long”. When we follow God’s counsel on money found in Proverbs there are financial blessings that come with that obedience. The Book of Romans says that God has established government to reward those who do good and punish those who do evil. And the Small Catechism says in conclusion to the commandments that “God threatens to punish all who break the commandments and promises grace and every blessing to those who keep the commandments.” Biblically and confessionally there is no doubt: God rewards those who are obedient.

But the blessings and rewards that God gives to those who are obedient to his will-- have to do with life on this earth—they are material blessings—not spiritual blessings. Financial success, happy marriages, wise governments—all of these ARE blessings from God—but they only have to do with this life—and they have: NOTHING to do with our standing in God’s sight—NOTHING to do with whether or not we are in a right relationship with him—NOTHING to do with eternal life to come in heaven. All of these spiritual blessings come to us through faith in Jesus Christ APART from works of the Law.

It is very easy to get confused about this. People think to themselves: “I’m a pretty good guy—I’m certainly better than the vast majority of folks around me—I strive to do what God wants me to do—I have tangible blessings to show for my obedience--surely things are fine between me and God”. This idea is as old as humanity—it is the religion of natural man—it is the underlying principle of all religions-- EXCEPT for Christianity. Today in God’s Word we see Jesus confront and correct this idea in the lives of a Pharisee—a Tax Collector—and an infant. The Bible says that:

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:

It is the most natural thing in the world, when we are considering what our status is with God—where we stand with God—to begin with ourselves—especially in comparison to others. But that this beginning place is the most natural thing—does not mean that it is the right thing. It is simply one more piece of evidence of how far we have fallen into sin that we are: blind to the truth about ourselves—blind to the truth about others—blind to the truth about God. And this inborn blindness leads us to lift up ourselves and look down on others.

Every religion in the world except for Christianity is a testament to this blindness because the foundation of their faith- and their followers’ focus- is on what they do to please God. Even we Christians have to struggle against this inborn, sinful tendency in our flesh that wants to believe that who we are in God’s sight rests on us as we compare ourselves to others rather than to God. Jesus said that:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

The Pharisee may have addressed his words to God out of self-conscious piety because of where he was there in the temple. He begins with God but then says: I—I—I—I—I. Jesus said that he told this parable to those who trusted in themselves and can there be any doubt that this Pharisee was one of those? The focus of his worship was not upon God—but upon himself—and especially upon how he compared to others. But it was even worse than that: the point of his comparison was not “other men”—but the worst of men: extortioners, adulterers, and tax collectors.

How very modern his words are—you hear them all the time! With kind of an “aw-shucks” attitude people will say with mock humility: “Well of course, I’m not perfect—but I’m not a murderer or thief—I do the best that I can”. But what the Pharisee was not willing to do-- and what folks today are not willing to do—is to measure their lives by the best kind of men—to say nothing of God.

Let’s just leave God’s standard of his own holiness out of this for right now and consider for a moment that our right standing with God DOES depend upon our own conduct as compared to others. Why is the measure always the worst kind of men and not the best? Do our lives match up to the love and humility and service of Mother Teresa? Do our lives match up to the heroes of faith that we have known in our own lives? No! And they certainly don’t match up to God’s expectation of us.

The only way that a person comes to a place of trusting in themselves for their right standing before God is when they have reduced the standards of God and lifted themselves up in comparison to men worse than themselves. But God’s standard for our lives is his own holiness-- NOT the worst kind of human beings—and that standard of perfect holiness convicts and condemns every one of us in God’s sight.

But what about the principle of God rewarding obedience? After all, the Pharisee was attending worship—he fasted and tithed—he lived an outwardly obedient life—was there no reward? There was! He was well respected in the community. He was admired for his piety. He got to feel good about himself. Those were his rewards. On another occasion Jesus encountered the same kind of people and this is what he said:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

There most certainly were rewards in the Pharisee’s obedience to the law—but none of them had anything to do with his right-standing before God—but instead they hindered it because they blinded him to his own sins and his need for God’s mercy—which is the truth about all people—even the outwardly righteous. But there was another man that day who had no pretensions about his status before God because his sin was as close to him as his day-to-day work. The Bible says that:

A tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

Several weeks ago, when we were reflecting on the story of the thankful Samaritan, we saw how the lepers stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus for mercy. And I remember making the point that their disease made the distance between them and Jesus and how the same thing is true in our spiritual lives—that our sin-disease makes a distance between us and God. Here we see that very thing.

The tax collector would not enter into the inner part of the temple—he would not even lift his eyes up to heaven. He knew something about himself- and God- and other people- that the Pharisee (that religious expert) did not. He knew: that God was holy—that he could not fool God about who he was—that he was a sinner who had no claim upon God but stood in need of his mercy. He recognized these things because they were simply inescapable—he knew what he was-- and everyone in town knew what he was—and this knowledge of the great distance between himself and a holy God was the beginning of a brand new life for him with God.

And so then, is it better to be a notorious sinner—is Jesus recommending that we lead evil lives? Certainly not! But it is a much needed reminder to the good folks sitting here today that if we ever come to a point in our life with God where we begin to think that our life with him is based upon what we do—or in being a little bit better than other folks—right then, in that moment, we need to reflect again on the perfect, holy standard that God has for us and take an honest look at our lives. That knowledge cannot help but make us say with the tax collector: God, be merciful to me, a sinner!

It’s an interesting thing that- even though almost every English translation has the word “mercy” there—that is not the word that is used in the Greek. Beck’s bible has: God forgive me-- and that’s a little bit better—but the word that is used in the original is “to propitiate”—to be reconciled to God on the basis of a sacrifice that takes away his wrath.

The place where the tax collector was standing (the temple in Jerusalem) had one and only one purpose—and that was to set before the people’s eye—day by day—sacrifice by sacrifice—the promise of Almighty God that he would send a Savior who would make a perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world—who would bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities—whose punishment would reconcile us to God and bring us peace.

That is the promise that God had made—that is the promise that the temple sacrifices pointed to—that was the promise that was fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—and that was the promise that the tax collector laid hold of and clung to in faith when every pretense about his own righteousness had been torn away. And believing the promise of God—he left the temple that day forgiven and right in God’s sight. Jesus said:

I tell you, THIS man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Then and now, there is only one way to be right in the sight of Almighty God—and that is through faith in the Savior he has sent. We can try to justify ourselves on the basis of what we do—we can try to justify ourselves on the worse behavior of others—but all of these efforts are SELF-justification—not God’s justification. Only through faith in Jesus does GOD declare us right in his sight.

A right relationship with God begins in the humility of repentance: that we recognize the truth about God—that he is holy and demands that we too be holy. Life with God begins with the truth about ourselves—that we are sinners who do not even measure up against the best kind of men-- to say nothing of God. And emptied this way of our own self-righteousness—we can be lifted up by the perfect righteousness of Christ—which God gives as a gift. The Bible says:

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

We began our meditation on God’s Word by affirming that God does indeed reward obedience. There are all kinds of earthly, material blessings that God gives to those obey him—but they are ONLY that—earthly and material. The kingdom of God: the rule and reign of Christ in our hearts—forgiveness, life, and salvation—cannot be earned by our works of obedience, they can only be RECEIVED.

That is the beautiful, comforting truth we see in Jesus welcoming infants. The disciples were just like the Pharisee—they didn’t understand the nature of the kingdom and so they wanted to keep infants away—because, after all, they couldn’t do anything to make a place with God for themselves. But not only did Jesus’ welcome show that it was possible for infants to have a place in God’s kingdom—they were the example of how a person can come into the kingdom at all!

Now is Jesus really talking about how old we are when we come into his kingdom? No! He’s talking about an attitude that recognizes that our place in his kingdom is not about what we can do—but about receiving in faith what God has done for us in Christ when we were helpless to do anything to earn a place in God’s family.

There ARE blessings that come through obedience—but salvation is not one of them. Our life with God is a gift that he graciously gives us when he declares us right in his sight-- through faith in Jesus-- apart from anything we do.

I pray that you would hear this Good News as Jesus’ invitation to you to come into the kingdom of God and receive-with a humble heart and the open hands of faith—all of the gifts of salvation that he has earned for you in his holy life, bloody death, and glorious resurrection! Amen.

And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.