[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 25C

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Oct 22, 2016 8:56 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 25C



Dear Friends,
 
This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “The Pharisee and theTax Collector” and deals with all the gospel (Luke 18: 9-14).  Here it is: 
 
Today we heard another ofJesus’ parables- this time the one about the Pharisee and the taxcollector.  It’s so very easy to put downthe Pharisee in this story, yet he really was a very good and religiousman.  In fact, he was in many ways morefaithful to his religion than we are to ours. Listen to his list: he isn’t greedy; doesn’t lie or cheat or steal; andisn’t unfaithful to his wife.  He evengoes beyond the rules.  He only has tofast once a year (on the Day of Atonement), but he fasts twice a WEEK.  He gives one-tenth of everything he earns,not just one-tenth of his produce.  Hegoes to the temple twice a DAY to pray (9 AM and 3 PM).  Those are the positives.  How does your faithfulness match his?  How does mine?  Not too well. Now the negatives- did you hear his prayer- 6 “I’s” in it!  It’s almost as if he is telling God how luckyGod is to have him on his team!  On topof that, he compares himself with the tax collector and thanks God that he isnot like that unfortunate person.  In away, that probably came very naturally, because Jewish men prayed daily fromthe time they were little boys thanking God that they weren’t born a dog or aGentile or a woman.
            The tax collector, on the other hand, was really tellingthe truth about himself.  He reminds meof an old, old story I heard (JokesWareHouse.com) about an encounter betweenthe pope and past-President Bill Clinton. The meeting that was supposed to be short lasted for two days. Finally,a weary President Clinton emerged to face the waiting news media.  The president was smiling and announced thesummit was a resounding success. He said he and the pope agreed on 80% of thematters they discussed. Then Mr. Clinton declared he was going home to be withhis family.  A few minutes later, thepope came out to make his statement.  Helooked tired, and discouraged, and was practically in tears.  Sadly he announced his meeting with thePresident was a failure.  Incredulous,one reporter asked, “But your Holiness, President Clinton just announced thesummit was a great success and the two of you agreed on 80% of the itemsdiscussed.”  Exasperated, the popeanswered, “Yes, but we were talking about the Ten Commandments.”  The tax collector would have been on the sideof Mr. Clinton, because he understood sin. He had been a truly evil person- lying, cheating and stealing from hisfellow Jews, a traitor to his country. Jesus ends the parable stating that only the tax collector went homejustified, which must have really surprised the people who were listening.
Whatwas Jesus trying to teach us from this important parable?  What changes do we need to make in ourlives?  Check these out:
 
Our culture is not an excuse for our     behavior.  Remember the prayer that     the Pharisee was taught to pray daily from his mother’s knee- thanking God     that he wasn’t born a dog or a Gentile or a woman?  That didn’t excuse him; and our cultural     brainwashing won’t excuse us.  The     summary of the law- “Love God; love neighbor” and Jesus’ commandment,     “Love one another as much as I have loved you,” is the measure by which we     will be judged.
 
Strive for excellence.  It wasn’t the excellence of the     Pharisee’s commitment to trying to follow God that messed him up.  It was his motivation- he did what he     did to prove how great he was.  His     behavior wasn’t coming from his heart.
 
Don’t be selfish in your prayer     life.  Don’t just pray for yourself     and those you love.  There was a     little girl who told her mother she didn’t need to say her bedtime     prayers- didn’t need anything tonight.      Don’t be like that child!      Widen your prayer life.      Praise God!  Thank God!  Confess your sins.  Pray for others, including those you do     not know.  A friend noticed that her     husband changed his prayer life.  He     used to read the Bible and pray every morning as soon as he got up while     he was drinking his coffee.  Now he     watched the news first.  When asked,     he said that he needed to watch TV to see who he should pray for, then he     could do his devotions as God intended.      Very wise!  So, inform     yourself, watch the news or read the paper.  Then, ask God to heal and bless those     nearest and dearest to you.
 
Don’t compare yourself to other people-     compare yourself to the best that you can be, and compare yourself to     Jesus.  When we do this, we won’t     find ourselves saying that we didn’t sin today.  Stephen Covey, author of the popular     book “Seven Habits of Successful People,” tells of riding a subway in New     York City.  All the passengers were     reading or sleeping or sitting quietly until a man got on with several children.  The children were unruly beyond     measure.  They were fighting and     throwing things.  One of the     children grabbed a newspaper from the hands of one of the passengers!  The father was doing absolutely     nothing.  While the children ran     wild, the father was just sat there staring off into space.  Covey knew his own children would never     have acted like that, so he finally decided to take action.  He went to the father and said, “Sir, we     need your help.  Your children are     bothering people.  Could you do     something about it?”  The man awoke     as if from a daze and said, “You're right.      I guess I should do something about it.  We've just left the hospital.  Their mother just died.  I really don't know what to think, and I     guess they're not handling it too well either.”- OUCH!  Been there; done that.
 
So, copy the Pharisee’s faithfulness.  Copy the tax collector’s humility     (facing reality).  Be the best that     you can be and confess your sins when you are not.  Compare yourself to Jesus, not those     behind you in your spiritual walk.      (In other words, focus on where you’re going, not where you’ve     been.)  Most of all, be lenient with     other people and reasonably tough on yourself.  Understand and forgive.  May God bless us as we try to live what     we believe.

 
For anyone who isinterested, this sermon and updated African-American wisdom statements areposted on our parish’s web site under “Sermons & Stuff”. The address is: http://www.stpaulsepisag.org .
 
Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

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