Proper 25, Year C
The Rev. G. Hendree Harrison, Jr.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Panoramic View: God’s wider vision
I am afraid this morning’s gospel scene has lost its edge. The scene with the Pharisee and the tax collector was meant to knock us off our seats, but I think it has lost its shock value.
The Pharisee has become a caricature. He and Jesus are always going at it, and we expect that the Pharisee is going to come out the loser every time they tangle. And we don’t even really know the tax collector. There is not a good equivalent of him in our culture so he becomes a cartoon character himself as he beats his chest, and begs God’s mercy. So the story becomes a vanilla scene with the obvious moral conclusion that we should be humble. There is nothing very alarming in it for us, but I would like to retell it with four new characters to see if we can reclaim the upsetting edge to this parable.
My characters follow.
Character one is a fighter: I saw a fight on Market Street in Chattanooga two weeks ago. It was an odd scene. I had just turned onto Market from a side street, and I stopped immediately because ten yards in front of my truck there were 4 people standing in the middle of the street. It was 2 men and 2 women, and they were fist fighting -matched up boys against boys, and girls against girls. To make it all just a bit stranger one of the men had his belt off, and he was swinging it over his head to keep his opponent at bay. One of the women had on a dark blue motorcycle helmet. All four of them looked rather rough, dirty, and ill kept.
I locked the doors of my truck, and Kristin called 911.
Character two is a fundamentalist: Two women I know were eating breakfast in a restaurant in Atlanta a few weeks ago. One of the women is an active Christian, and the other woman is an atheist. These two women are best of friends, and happen to be able to get along just fine despite their distinctly different beliefs. They were talking over coffee and cake about, of all things, sin. The atheist friend was asking the Christian friend why Christian folk get so mired and caught up in sin. “Why couldn’t you start on a more positive note,” she asked. (Not a bad question really). The Christian friend answered by talking a bit about forgiveness and God’s grace.
There was another woman sitting at the table next to the two friends. This woman sat alone and listened to the conversation about sin.
She was a fundamentalist. She was not satisfied with the Christian friend’s response to the atheist’s questions about sin so, she got up from her seat and walked over to the two talking friends. She was not an unpleasant woman, and she slipped herself easily into the conversation. She gave the two friends her take on sin and forgiveness….and condemnation.
“We all sin,” she said, “and unless we ask for forgiveness from God then we are condemned. That is, we go to hell.”
The atheist said, “that’s all fine and good for you guys. But I don’t believe in God so, sin and hell, and forgiveness, and the whole mess is yours to get caught up in. I’ve got enough problems!” she said with a laugh.
The fundamentalist looked into the eyes of the atheist friend and said, “Without asking for forgiveness it will be your problem. You will be condemned.”
The tone of her voice was not rough or mean, but it was short and certain.
The atheist said, “It’s time for you to go.”
The woman put her hand on the atheist’s shoulder. It was not violent, but the touch was not welcome. The Christian friend winced and wished the fundamentalist would go away.
Character 3 is a televangelist: I watch TV preachers for sport. Much to Kristin’s dismay I have a particular TV preacher from a mega church in Georgia who I watch on a weekly basis. This guy is dynamic, and exciting. He has all manner of affectation and movement in his preaching. He is entertaining, but I have yet to hear him say anything. That is, I have yet to hear him make any conclusive point. But I still watch because one day he’s going to get to his point, and I want to hear it.
Character 4 is an Episcopalian: Episcopalians have it all figured out. We have our prayer book, our proper good looking church, our vestments, and our polite and orderly service.
We have an academic view, open minds, liturgical seasons, lectionary cycles, and a neatly trimmed altar space.
Pharisee to be the one “who goes home justified.”
The Pharisee was the one who followed the law, and kept steady at prayer and stewardship and scripture study. The Pharisee was the Sunday School type.
The original audience would have been stunned at Jesus’ preferential treatment of the terrible tax collector who would be more likely to be found fighting in the street, than contributing to the Sunday School session.
Now, for the retelling of the parable: An Episcopalian was sitting in his usual seat, a seat not too near the front, in his church before Sunday worship. He prayed silently to himself and watched the acolyte fumble with the lighting of the candles. He prayed thanksgiving to God that he was an Episcopalian and not a fundamentalist. He prayed beautiful prayers of praise to God for making him smart and clean and polite.
After the service was well started and going, in the middle of the chanting of the psalm actually, three strangers entered the church noisily and sat down in a pew in the middle of the congregation.
One was a bedraggled woman with a black eye. She carried a motorcycle helmet which she set in the aisle beside her pew.
One of the strangers was a TV preacher in a gold trimmed suit. He raised his hands in the air during the hymns.
Another was a fundamentalist type. She frowned upon finding the scripture was read from the New Revised Standard Version instead of the original which is, of course, KJV.
At the prayers of the people, the three strangers got lost fumbling with the many colored books, and so they just bowed their heads and closed their eyes and listened.
Jesus Christ was visiting in the church that Sunday, and when the three strangers stumbled into the church, he got up to go sit with them.
Jesus walked past the Episcopalian on his way, and as he passed him, he touched him lightly on the shoulder. At the peace, Jesus embraced the three strangers. He hugged them and kissed their cheeks, and he talked to them quietly, and they all smiled big goofy smiles.
The Episcopalian felt slighted, and he wondered why Jesus couldn’t tell the difference between the normal church members and the strangers.
Neither my parable nor Luke’s parable is about the characters in them. The parables are not about the Pharisee and the tax collector, or the Episcopalian, fundamentalist, or street fighting woman. These parables are about God.
The shock factor is found in the fact that our God goes to everybody - even reaches out to people who don’t look like or sound or act like us.
That is Luke’s point.
The gospel and God made known in Jesus Christ are for all of the world. The redemptive love of God is not just for people who pray in a certain way, or believe a certain set of beliefs, or go to a certain church.
We’ve set up quite a contrast between Episcopalians, for instance, and fundamentalists, but in God’s mind we stand side by side – children all, sinners all, all deeply loved.
The Pharisee is actually not a bad guy in Luke’s story. He is a devout churchgoer. The Episcopalian is not a bad guy in my story. It’s good to have your own well worn spot in the church. But in the stories each of them has a narrow view of God and faith.
Jesus Christ wants us to explode that narrow view so that we can see that our God relentlessly seeks after all of us. Whether Pharisee or fundamentalist, Episcopalian or tax collector, God seeks to pour out full measures of Grace upon each and every last broken soul among us, and Alleluia, Alleluia, praise be to God for that…..