LUKE 18:9-14

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

10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

11 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.

12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

13 But the 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!’

14 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.”

We all have those moments.  You say something without thinking about it and then you say to yourself, “I wish I hadn’t said that.”  That’s the way a man felt after he got into a fender bender with the car in front of him.  Unfortunately, the accident was the man’s fault.   So his stress level immediately went through the roof and his mind started racing a mile a minute.  Even more so when the other driver got out of his car and the man saw that he was a dwarf.   When the dwarf shouted “I’m not happy,” the man who was dazed and confused replied, “Okay, then which one are you?”

These days you have to be careful.  That’s because your words can get you into a lot of trouble.  I found that out a couple of weeks ago.  During the announcements I pointed out that most women’s groups in churches die out as the women get older but that isn’t true for the women in our wonderful Faith Circle.   After the service a couple of people jokingly accused me of calling the Faith Circle women old.   That wasn’t my intention of course.  So, I want to take a moment now to compliment the Faith Circle women for all that they do at a time when some might say that they’re chronologically enhanced.

How’s that for being politically correct?  Chronologically enhanced.  I like it. I’m not getting old.  I’m just chronologically enhanced. Now I know that the politically correct movement drives a lot of people crazy. Behind the politically correct movement though there is a recognition that words can be abusive.  Just look at the Pharisee who went up to the Temple to pray.  There’s no doubt about it. The Pharisee was verbally abusive. “God,” he said, “I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”  

The Pharisee was using his words as a weapon.  His words were condescending and cruel. His words were hateful and hurtful.  The Pharisee made himself look good by putting everyone else down.  You can see that in a book that takes some of the parables and rewrites them to make them politically correct.  What you have in this parable then is a humility impoverished Pharisee who raises his arms to the heavens and says, “Higher Power, I thank you that I am not like other persons: nonwaged, underhoused, morally different, non-goal oriented, or nonmonogamous.  I am especially thankful that I’m not like this revenue enhancer, who surely tells untruths in order to economically exploit the underclass….I give 10 percent of my pretax income to empower the disadvantaged.  In general, I’m a great guy. Of course, you already know that.”

The Pharisee wasn’t just full of himself.  His words were abusive.  His words were abusive especially to the tax collector who was standing next to him.  That poor guy’s self-esteem wasn’t that great to begin with and then after hearing the Pharisee dump on him what does he do?  Luke tells us that the tax collector “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”

I wonder if the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector has something to say to us at a time when bullying seems to be huge problem in our schools and our society.  Last spring Phoebe Prince hung herself after being hounded by her classmates out in South Hadley Massachusetts.   A couple of weeks ago Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers University jumped off the George Washington Bridge after being harassed online.  Turn the television on and you’ll hear name calling and insults on the talk shows and in the political ads. “God I thank you that I am not like other men…or…this tax collector or that liberal over there or that retard down the street or that fat kid on the bus or that smelly immigrant I saw in the supermarket.”

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector reminds you that words can be abusive.   Now all those abusive words would slowly disappear if people would remember two simple things.  The first thing to remember is that God does hold us accountable for the things that we say.  Just look at what happens at the end of the parable.  Do you remember what Jesus said at the end of the parable?  After everything is said and done Jesus tells us that the Pharisee isn’t the one who’s going to be embraced by God’s love.  The tax collector is the one who is going to be embraced by God’s love.  “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever who humbles himself will be exalted.”

What we say does matter to God.   Consider if you will the farmer who wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper.  The farmer dared the editor to print his letter and wrote, “I have been trying an experiment.  I have a field of corn which I plowed on Sunday.  I planted it on Sunday.  I did all the cultivating on Sunday.   I gathered the harvest on Sunday and hauled it to my barn on Sunday.  I find that my harvest this October is just as great as any of my neighbors’ who went to church on Sunday.  So where was God all this time?”  The editor printed the letter, but then added a one sentence reply.  “Your mistake,” the editor wrote, “is in thinking that God always settles His accounts in October.”

God does hold us accountable for the things that we say.  Here’s something else that might help when it comes to all those abusive words.  The Pharisee made himself look good by comparing himself to the people around him.   What he should have done was compared himself to Jesus.   Was he as good as Jesus?  No.  Was he as smart as Jesus?  No.   Did he love people the way Jesus loves us?  No.   Was he as giving as Jesus?  No.  Is anyone as good and smart and loving and giving as Jesus?  The answer to that question is no. 

When you compare yourself to Jesus things change.  You begin to realize that you’re not as good as you think you are.  You begin to realize that there are things about yourself that you need to improve.  Simply put when you compare yourself to Jesus it will always be a humbling experience.

If more people compared themselves to Jesus we’d probably see less bullying and fewer words that are verbally abusive.  We’d probably see more words that encourage and heal like the words that an elderly woman shared one day with a young boy. The boy’s name was Jerry Harpt and he tells his story in one of the Chicken Soup For The Soul books.  Jerry Harpt was twelve years old back in 1954 and living in Marinette, Wisconsin.  One Saturday afternoon, he and a friend of his were mindlessly throwing rocks on the roof of an old lady’s house.  Unfortunately, one of Jerry’s rocks ending up breaking a window on her back porch. The sound of breaking glass sent both of the boys running for the woods.  No one saw them but he still felt guilty every day when he delivered the old lady’s newspaper.  She always greeted him with a smile. Finally, he decided to make amends.  “I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I calculated would cover the cost of her window.  I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost for repairing it.  I waited until it was dark, snuck up to the old lady’s house, and put the envelope of retribution through the letter slot in her door.  My soul felt redeemed and I couldn’t wait for the freedom of, once again, looking straight into the old lady’s eyes.  The next day, I handed the old lady her paper and was able to return the warm smile that I was receiving from her.  She thanked me for the paper and said, ‘Here, I have something for you.’  It was a bag of cookies. I thanked her and proceeded to eat the cookies as I continued my route.  After several cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag.  When I opened the envelope, I was stunned.  Inside was the seven dollars and a short note that said, ‘I’m proud of you.’”

When you draw near to Jesus it will keep you from thinking too highly of yourself.  On the other hand when you draw near to the Jesus who loves you it will keep you from thinking to little of yourself.  When you draw near to Jesus instead of putting other people down or putting yourself down you’ll want to be more like him.

Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart. Lord I want to be like Jesus in my heart.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

October 24, 2010