In Faith, We Will Go Home Righteous :: Luke 18:9-14

[Prayer]

Almighty God, because of your tender mercy toward us sinners, you have given us grace through your Son that, believing in his atonement, we would have eternal life. Continue to grant us your Holy Spirit that we may remain steadfast in your righteousness ... In Jesus’ name.

[Introduction]

When Jesus saw that [some people] had persuaded themselves and continued to persuade themselves that they were righteous ... thinking they had need for forgiveness ... and that they were ridiculing others ... withholding fellowship and forgiveness ... he told them a parable about the prayers of a Pharisee and tax collector (vv 9-10). 

I can hardly imagine how loud of a gasp everyone in the room gave when Jesus said the righteous man was the tax collector. The Pharisees were known to be outstanding citizens, good neighbors. They weren’t ravenous wolves or unjust or adulterous. They were generous givers ... pious men who went to church every day. 

Tax collectors, on the other hand, were thought to be immoral cheats and thieves, crooked and despised. But as Jesus said, I tell you this guy went down to his house having been declared righteous ... that is, innocent before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one humbling himself will be exalted (v 14).

Some might surmise that the moral of the story is rather simple, that all you need to do to be exalted is to beat yourself up and say prayer, acknowledging you’re a sinner. But there are many layers to parables that merit our attention, teaching us the true faith. 

4. Let’s start by asking ourselves, Who is righteous? 

In Jesus’ day, most people would have said the Pharisees. In Luther’s day, most would have thought of the pope or the priests or the monks. Later, Pietists and Puritans certainly came to mind. By the time of the Great Awakenings in America, the righteous became those who didn’t drink or smoke. Today, it might be the social justice warriors. But then again, maybe it’s the last person you’d expect. 

Is it you? 

Do you thank God that you aren’t like some of our neighbors? 

Do you curse others from afar or under your breath? Would you admit it if you did?

Do you tell yourself that you don’t need more forgiveness?

Today’s parable calls everyone out of self-righteousness and into repentance. It teaches us the Gospel. It teaches us that you can’t prove yourself righteous before God. It reminds us of John’s epistles: If you say you have no sin, you deceive yourselves and the truth is not in you. ... If you say you have not sinned, you call God a liar. It calls to mind the First Commandment ... as well as the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer and the Second and Third Articles of the Creed. 

3. The reason the Pharisee was NOT righteous is ... he trusted in his own righteousness. And that is idolatry!

His “prayer” consisted of this: O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of men, ravenous, unrighteous, adulterous, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a tenth of all I possess (vv 11-12).

It’s clear: the Pharisee had a false faith. He trusted the traditions of elders. He trusted his way of life would keep him from sin, and that God would hear his prayer just because he was a son of Abraham. He trusted in himself most of all. He did not, as the first commandment teaches us ... fear, love, and trust in God above all things. He glossed over sin, refused to reconcile with his brother in the back of the room and to forgive as he’s been forgiven (5th Petition). 

Meanwhile, the tax collector appealed only to God. Without comparing himself to others in the room, he confessed his sin and his need for forgiveness from the only God who forgives. He looked to Jesus, the author and perfector of the faith, praying for mercy (v 13).

2. The tax collector trusted only in the righteousness of God.

How do we know that? The answer is found ... not his position in the back of the room ... or his posture, hiding his eyes ... beating himself up ... singing “Chief of Sinners, Though I Be.” The answer is found in his actual confession. 

The word he used is ἱλάσθητί. This verb is unique. It has a greater meaning that just “God, ‘be merciful’ to me, a sinner.” Mercy is a different word. You know it as Kyrie Eleison. The tax collector’s word is one of grace. A more precise translation is, “O God, ‘make atonement’ for me, the sinner” (v 13). 

The tax collector knows atonement happens on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. He knows that ONLY God himself is able to complete the PERFECT sacrifice for this ... that only God can give it. That propitiation requires the blood of Christ and is received ONLY in The Faith given by God himself (Eph 2:8; Rm 3:25). Repentant sinners believe, as the evangelist to the Hebrews proclaimed, that eternal redemption comes not by means of the blood of goats and calves ... but by means of God’s own blood (Hb 9:12). Repentant sinners believe that without God’s blood there can be no forgiveness. Jesus is our propitiation ... our atonement (1 Jn 4:10). 

1. Jesus alone has provided that righteousness.

As Paul taught us in Ephesians, we were dead in our trespasses ... or our insistence on doing our things our way. We were dead in our sins, just like the Pharisee. We try to do what is right, but we repeatedly miss the mark ... repeatedly fail to do even the simple things Jesus tells us to do. We say we don’t need it. More than that, we were sons of disobedience, consumed by the overwhelming lust of our flesh. As children of wrath, we deserve death. But as Paul says, God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been and continue to be saved (Eph 2:1-5).

You are not saved because you beat yourself up over sin. Even the unrepentant do that (Rm 2:5). You are not saved because you think you are engaging in prayer. Even the unrepentant think they will be heard for their many words (Mt 6:7). You are not saved because you read your Bible (Jn 5:39). You are not saved because you come to church (v 11). You are not saved because you say you have faith (Eph 2:8). 

You ARE saved because of what Jesus has done for you ... in his life, death, and resurrection ... and in what he continues to do for you through his Baptism and Supper ... calling, gathering, uniting himself with you. This is the perfect work of God: Your salvation happened and continues to happen. He continues to unite himself with you so that you will unite yourselves with one another. This (faith) is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8-9). This is what the tax collector believed.

AND BECAUSE OF THE FAITH HE GIVES US, WE TOO WILL GO HOME RIGHTEOUS

Jesus has opened that door by humbling himself, taking your sin upon himself and crucifying it on a cross. Through his act of mercy, he ensured you are NOT GETTING the wage you deserve ... death. Instead, in grace, he rose from the dead, ensuring you GET WHAT YOU DO NOT deserve ... eternal life in him. Jesus has sanctified you and continues to do that with his blood in Holy Baptism (Rv 7:14). And to keep you in the one true faith, he feeds you his body and blood given and shed in the atonement for your forgiveness. 

[Conclusion]

So come you who are burdened and heavy laden, and receive the atonement that covers both the front and back of the room. In true faith, you can repent ... mourning your sin and putting your trust in Jesus. In true faith, God will hear your prayer ... he always hears the prayers of the saints ... and gives you the gifts of heaven. Then together with the tax collector, we will share that with one another and go home righteous ... in Jesus’ name.