October 23, 2022, Rev. Justin Cheng
Today’s parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector comes as a contrast to some of the other parables we heard in the last few weeks. To recap, in the last few months, we heard the stories of the unjust manager, the manager who you may recall cut the debts of the people who owed his master’s money to secure for himself a better future after getting fired. And last week we heard the story of the unjust judge, the judge who granted the widow justice simply because he wanted her to stop bothering him. From both stories, we can interpret it to mean that inner motivation, whether the manager or judge was doing the good thing out of good motives or selfish motives, is not as important as the fact that they were doing the good thing in the first place.
Today, however we get almost the complete opposite teaching. For the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is about the importance of inner motivation. The Pharisee does all the right things he fasts twice week and tithes a tenth of his income, the tithe at the time, was money given as charity to the poor. So, he was doing something concretely good that helped other people, he isn’t simply some pious churchgoer who only cared about worshipping God and didn’t care about anyone else. But he had the wrong motivation, the wrong intention, his heart, rather than open to compassion towards others, was instead judgmental and closed to others. The Tax collector on the other hand, had the right motivation, he came to God in humility, and asked forgiveness, but even though he said the right prayer and meant it, there is no indication that he changed his behaviour. The Pharisee done all the right things, and had the wrong heart, whereas the Tax Collector had the right heart, but the text does not indicate that he did anything right after the visit to the temple. So what do we make of these parables, what is Jesus trying to tell us about living the authentic life in this world that we are called?
I think you may be guessing where I am headed. It is not a question of either or, both both/and, of having a heart open to loving God and loving others, and living out that heartfelt love, outwards in actions that demonstrate that love. One definition of righteousness that may be helpful is one what you are inside, matches what you are outside. If we have a heart of love, we act in love. James in his letter reminds us “Faith without works is dead”, which is, if you have faith but you don’t help anyone because of your faith, that it is useless. Similarly, John in his letter writes “You cannot love God and hate your neighbour”, again a heart filled with love of God, cannot truly hate anyone who God created. I heard it expressed in different ways, such as “If you truly love God, then you will love who God loves”, which is loving other people and loving yourself.
The previous parables of the unjust manager/unjust judge are Jesus remarking on the fact that it is sometimes the case that bad people may occasionally do good things. We can wonder why that is the case, it may be that that is where we see God’s divine intervention at play. And we can rejoice that God acts in our world, where some good may come from not so good people. However, as people of God, as Christians, how we are to live our lives is to grow towards that understanding of holiness, in cultivating our hearts to be filled with love, and living out that love, practically in our witness and life in the world.
Let us go back to the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. Because while the aim is that we have a good heart and do good things, this story might be testament to the fact that it is easier to have a good heart and from there learn to do good, than it is to have a bad heart in the first place. What is the problem with the Pharisee in the story? Note that he uses the three traditional disciplines of religion: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. He is praying in the story, and he mentions that he fasts and gives alms. The three disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, are designed to train the soul to fulfill the two commandments of loving God, and loving neighbour. They are there to do both and it is important to keep that in mind. Yes, certainly obviously, on Sunday, when we come to worship, we come to fulfill the first great commandment, through our prayers and thanksgivings, to love and adore God. And we also through our worship, we are formed to love our neighbour, our creation and ourselves, throughout the rest of the week. The Pharisee apparently did all these things to love God, and yet he stumbled on the fact that to truly love God, is to love his fellow human beings. And that is the definition of bad religion. Too often, we see people who claim to love God, but do not love their fellow human beings. And according to the Bible, if you hate your fellow human beings, you do not truly love God. Because again to love God, means loving who God loves, which is everyone.
We can say that the tax collector should not be overly praised. As noted earlier, in the story itself, there is no indication that he changed his behaviour. However, a good heart, or maybe an open heart at least is the beginning of the journey. It is at least a start, which begins the journey to love. There is another tax collector in the Gospel, and unlike this parable, this tax collector is a real, live human being. That tax collector is named Levi, and tradition teaches that he is the same as St Matthew. Tax collectors were considered terrible sinners because not only did they collaborate with the Romans in collecting taxes from the people, but they were also well-known for overcharging and taking the difference for themselves, in short, they were condemned for stealing from their own people. Levi encounters Jesus who calls to him in love, who doesn’t condemn him. He changed his heart because Jesus loved him, and in the end of that story, Levi promises to repay everyone he has defrauded, double the money back. The Pharisee goes over the top in giving to God, Levi goes over the top in giving to everyone back. And it is in that point that Jesus declares that Levi is truly saved, that he is now a restored child of Abraham. A person with an open heart is capable of being transformed, changed to become a loving person in a way that a person with a closed heart cannot. And that Is what Jesus is calling us to be, people with open hearts, being open to loving God and loving our neighbour. To end, I will pray a prayer familiar to many Anglicans calling us to have transformed hearts so that we can be transformed people, ready to love God and our neighbour:Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your holy spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. Amen.