Sunday Homily - October 27, 2019 - "Bless your heart!"
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Icon
I.
"Oh Lord, bless your heart!"
Now, what did you hear
when I said that phrase?
Because the content of that phrase
carries with it a very contextualized meaning with it
if you have grown up in the South.
"Oh, bless your heart."
This phrase can mean two different things,
as some of you may know.
One of them is a congenial meaning,
such as how my grandma would use it after me or one of my friends
got hurt playing outside,
"Oh, bless your heart!"
Or,
it can also be used dismissively and antagonistically,
as in someone does something or says something socially out of line,
"Ugh, bless their heart."
That one person in your social life
that everyone knows is, you know, and little on the manipulative side
rolls up and is trying to coax you into doing something that she wants to do,
and you think to yourself,
"Oh Lord, bless her heart."
That one guy on the other end of the gym
that works out a little too loudly,
talks a little too loudly,
interrupts your exercise to correct your weightlifting form,
and you think to yourself,
"Dear God, bless his heart."
Even if you haven't used this exact phrase in this way,
doubtless you have experienced the circumstance that I'm describing.
It happens when "those people"
"bless their hearts"
interrupt your life
with their problems,
their issues,
and, God help them, their personalities.
And maybe, just maybe,
you think to yourself
"Thank God I'm not like that. Bless their little hearts."
Maybe, just maybe,
you there are some people in your life
that you are tempted to say,
"Thank God I'm not like them."
All of us do this.
Not one of us in this room doesn't do this.
This is why we need Jesus Christ.
And this is why, regardless of who we are,
this is why we need to listen very carefully to Jesus's parable this morning
of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
II.
The Pharisee and the tax collector.
Talk about two very very different people
who would have been viewed in two very different ways.
The Pharisee,
a teacher of the Law of God, given to Moses,
a person who had dedicated their lives to the most important relationship in their lives:
their relationship with the Lord Most High.
And the tax collector,
a Hebrew person who would have been assigned to collect taxes.
But not just any taxes:
they were in charge of gathering taxes for the Roman Empire.
These tax collectors are known for charging too much tax to line their pockets.
But not only that, they are traitors to God's chosen people,
collecting taxes for Caesar instead of righteously resisting this oppressive regime.
The Pharisee, a preacher and teacher of God's word,
carrying around the Law of God and promises of God on their foreheads
and as amulets around their necks
and teaching God's coming victory over this foreign oppressive force
when God gathers all of his children throughout the world
into one flock at the Temple of the Lord.
The tax collector, a traitor to the nation,
funneling revenue to the president of a foreign nation-state,
the same nation-state that is rolling its Panzer tanks across bordering countries
and subjugating them under the banner of world domination.
In this story,
that internal reaction you may have just had to that description
is exactly what Jesus is going for.
You, like the original hearers of this parable,
are supposed to have this clear picture in your head:
the Pharisee is the most clearly righteous, kind, and courageous person in this story,
and the tax collector is clearly undesirable, scandalous, and a traitor to the people of Israel.
And the Pharisee gives thanks to God for blessing him:
"God, I thank you that I am not like other people, bless their hearts!
Thank you so much I'm not a thief, a rogue, an adulterer, or even like that tax collector.
I go to church every Sunday;
I even tithe a tenth of all my income!"
[Luke 18:11-12 paraphrase]
And the tax collector,
that miserable person who has alienated everyone in their lives,
who has committed unthinkable sins,
who knows in his heart that he is so un-redeemable
that he thinks he can't even look up at God,
and cries with tears coming down his face
"Lord, I'm such a mess.
Please help.
Please help.
Please have mercy on me."
[Luke 18:13 paraphrase]
And Jesus has the audacity to tell us
That this tax collector, bless his heart,
actually goes home justified
rather than the Pharisee.
And the point of the story is that the tax collector doesn't justify himself
just because he cries out and confesses his sin.
But rather, in an even more shocking way,
God actually responds to the cry of this tax collector
and freely justifies him,
even though he didn't deserve it,
even though he didn't even think he would receive it.
Because God is more ready to forgive than we are to ask.
And more ready to heal you than we are to seek healing.
But God is also paying really close attention to the sickness of soul
that is deep within the Pharisee,
someone who by all accounts was actually trying to seek God,
trying to do what God wanted him to do,
who earnestly sought God in all that he did.
And yet this Pharisee is resisted by God,
because their outward practice commanded by God
became an avenue for him to think himself better than anyone else.
III.
We, friends, are commanded and encouraged
to seek God in all that we do
to pursue our relationship with God in all our lives
and to bring others along with us
in relationship with Christ Jesus our Lord.
And yet, as Jesus very clearly indicated this morning,
none of our outward practice matters at all
if you think that that outward righteousness
means that you are better than others.
The Pharisee, in spite of the fact that he actually committed himself
to teach, preach, and spread the Word of the Lord,
actually has distanced himself from God
because he began to despise his "less holy" neighbors,
"Ugh bless their hearts."
But the tax collector had no righteousness to fall back on,
he had no recourse to bargain with God about his worthiness,
he had no answer to God
except to turn his face to the ground,
and say, "God, I've messed up so badly.
Please please have mercy on me, a sinner."
and freely, lovingly, forgives and justifies this man,
because all who exalt themselves will be humbles.
And all who humble themselves will be exalted.
All of us in this room have parts of us that are like the Pharisee.
All of us in this room have parts of us that are like the tax collector.
And the point of the parable, as the Gospel writer tells us,
is that we are to be wary of thinking of others with contempt.
Because that other person you may hold in contempt
has struggles that you are not aware of,
a past that you do not understand,
and a future that you cannot predict.
But you and that other person do have something really important in common:
we are all created and loved by the same Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And you and that other person also have something really important in common:
neither one of you are perfect.
And that's why we need the grace and mercy and Love of God
to justify us and sanctify us
and to break down the walls of your heart that we construct between us and our neighbor.
Please please, friends,
practice this week the humility and compassion
that allows you to see even the most reprehensible person
as someone whom God wishes to save and forgive.
Because when you look at someone as being loved and whom God desires to heal,
you will start to see others the way that our Lord Jesus sees them.
Because just as our Holy Scriptures say,
"...for the Lord is the judge,
and with him there is no partiality."
So also, you friends are called as followers of Jesus Christ
to show compassion and love for the same people who God loves
and desires to make himself known to them through Jesus Christ
the Eternal Word Incarnate.
Live out the compassion of Christ,
joining others in repenting for the things we do to each other
and humbling ourselves so that we may have open hearts
to receive the soul-healing grace that we know we don't deserve,
but yet is shown us by God through Jesus Christ's sacrificial love.
And when you are tempted to say,
"Bless your heart,"
mean it with as much compassion as you have,
and follow it up with a hug and a prayer.
Because you never know when someone needs you,
and you never know when you'll have the opportunity
to teach someone the love of Jesus Christ.
In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Comments
Post a Comment