11. August 2024
Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
Two sinners went to church to pray. But everyone could see that they were different. One was the church type: well-dressed, family in tow, and knows all the words and motions. No one would doubt for a minute that this man was a believer. The other guy didn’t get the memo: he lacks the finer garments, is alone in the back, and is awkward. Both are sinners who need to be brought to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But appearances are deceiving.
“I tell you, this man [the tax collector] went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Justification is the gift of God that makes you a Christian. “[You] cannot be justified before God by [your] own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when [you] believe that [you] are received into favor, and that [your] sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for [your] sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight” (AC IV).
Exalting yourself is believing that your “strength, merit, or works” somehow or partly save you from your sin. Exalting yourself is to come alongside Jesus and say, “Thanks for your help; I’ve got it from here.” Exalting yourself is putting your fear, love, and trust in your works, actions, and words. Exalting yourself gives the appearance of godliness but has none of the substance. Exalting oneself is about giving the impression of faith but refusing the Spirit’s work.
Hypocrisy is the common criticism leveled against Christians. “You say one thing and do another!” You claim to love God, but you refuse to love your neighbor. You don’t pray. You don’t attend Divine Service regularly. You don’t honor your parents and other authorities. You don’t protect and defend life. You don’t protect property and possessions. You dishonor marriage and lust as much as the heathen. You lie and deceive, gossip and slander. Your greed is as insatiable as the worst. “How can you say you love Jesus and continue in these things?”
That’s real, but it’s not hypocrisy. You can accept this criticism, this dressing down, humbling. But you’ll note what the critics fail to see, hear, or know about you. That you confess these sins, plead to God for mercy, live in the forgiveness of sins, and trust that God the Holy Spirit will work to renew a right and steadfast heart. The critics only see where sin has broken out, but they fail to see the healing balm and saving flood that is at work to restore and refresh you day by day. At the end of the day, you, whom God has brought low by revealing all your guilt and shame, confess to the tax collector, “God be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Strictly speaking, hypocrisy claims a higher standard but secretly does not believe it. It is maintaining the illusion or appearance of being a Christian without believing it all. In reality, it’s not the humble Christian who trusts in Christ for forgiveness of sins, confesses, and is absolved that is the hypocrite. The world of proud and boastful virtue signalers and noble liars are the true hypocrites. When they accuse you of hypocrisy, this is them confessing through projection. They accuse you of what they themselves are. “God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.”
The most notorious are those who give the appearance of being Christians, but their hearts are far from Jesus. As our world has been socially re-engineered in recent years, one thing that was lost is the social credit of giving the appearance of Christian faith. Many who we thought were humble believers either were or became obstinate, proud unbelievers. The masks have dropped, and the illusion has given up. Christians were either required or given permission by the civil authorities to check out for weeks, months, and even years. After a while, these realized that they didn’t miss much and God didn’t strike them down immediately. Why keep up the pretense of being faithful if nothing bad happens?
But like with Adam and Eve, Israel, and many Christian people, rejecting the Word and gifts of Jesus has immediate and long-term consequences. Rejecting the means the Spirit uses to create and sustain faith always has immediate consequences. God willing, you are humbled, brought low, confess your absence as sin, and are restored in faith and life through Christ’s forgiveness. But what we have seen, evident this morning as we look about, is that persistent rejection of Jesus’s body and blood, His incarnational presence among His people, results not in hypocrisy but spiritual death.
This causes us grief and shame. We don’t like the masks dropping and reality being revealed. We mourn them and pray God raise them again to live with Him. We are ashamed that we neglected to call them to repent of their neglect of Jesus and be restored to the body of Christ again. We are humbled, confess, and will return to the Sacrament to be forgiven, restored, and renewed for witness, mercy, and life together. We are tax collectors, humbled and grieving but trusting that God is merciful to us sinners.
And as we go about the vocations to which God has called us, in family, work, church, or society, we don’t have to maintain a mask or illusion before our neighbor. We confess our sins in humility, acknowledge our faults, and ask for forgiveness in Jesus’ name. And here, week after week, you don’t need to exalt yourself. Instead, Jesus exalts you as He forgives, restores, and resurrects you from the death of sin to life with God. And God the Spirit will call with us more sinners, humbled by their iniquities but gathered to be forgiven and exalted in Jesus’s justification, too.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guards your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
St. John Ev. Lutheran Church & School – Sherman Center
Random Lake, Wisconsin