Message 10-28-07   - Reformation Sunday

Series:            Lectionary [Traditional]

Scripture:       Luke 18:9-14 [Psalm 65]

Title:                                                    Our Dearest Friend

HE royal feast was done; the King

Sought some new sport to banish care,

And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,

Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,

And stood the mocking court before;

They could not see the bitter smile

Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee

Upon the Monarch's silken stool;

His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart

From red with wrong to white as wool;

The rod must heal the sin: but Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'T is not by guilt the onward sweep

Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;

'T is by our follies that so long

We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,

Go crushing blossoms without end;

These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust

Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept--

Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?

The word we had not sense to say--

Who knows how grandly it had rung!

"Our faults no tenderness should ask.

The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;

But for our blunders -- oh, in shame

Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;

Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool

That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,

Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed; in silence rose

The King, and sought his gardens cool,

And walked apart, and murmured low,

"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

Do you know what’s great about God? He knows us and he loves us. He knows us in all our frailty, and knows us in all our simplemindedness and he loves us. He knows our mistakes that come simply because of our clumsiness, our awkwardness and he loves us. Do you know what’s great about God? He’s our dearest friend.

I want us to think about God’s friendship by considering the situation of this tax collector. Think about this tax collector. Tax collectors were not a caste of people outside the religious community that made up most of Israel. Although they are mentioned along with the generally sinful – “tax collectors and sinners” is the phrase we hear when we read the Bible – they were just more obviously able to be sinful. They weren’t necessarily sinful. It was just easy for them to be.

You may or may not know about the circumstance of tax collectors at that time. They were considered sinful in the same way that shepherds of that time were generally considered prone to theft. The job of collecting taxes seemed to prey upon the hard times of others. If we were to make a disparaging remark about people purchasing foreclosures right now – saying that anyone doing that is evil, it would be similar to saying the same kind of thing about tax collectors. Taking advantage of other people’s hard times can be seen as ethically questionable. The truth is that if you can purchase a house for a decent price and you didn’t orchestrate the foreclosure that’s just a good deal. You’re not foreclosing. The bank is and the bank’s practices might be held up for question, but that’s another issue. The issue of buying a house that’s on the market for a decent price is just a matter of buying a house.

But tax collectors were seen as sinful because they worked with Gentiles – the Romans. Their immediate supervisors were Romans and the Romans kept a close watch on tax collectors because they were handling the money of the empire. Tax collectors were also seen as sinful because in general they abused their power. The collectors were told by the Roman government that they had to take in a certain amount of tax. Anything above that amount was theirs to keep. Now, not only did the tax collectors have the ability to set the figure for taxes, they also had the muscle of Roman soldiers at hand to back up their demands.

It would be inappropriate for us to look at this Tax Collector as the “good guy” in the story. If we do that, which is so easy to do, we can easily fall into the trap that Jesus presents as the problem for the Pharisee. We can immediately think that it’s a good thing that we’re not like that Pharisee.

We’d also miss the surprise that the people around Jesus felt in response to his story. We should be surprised. One man walks away from church a little wrinkled from his stay, while the other one comes away cleansed. But it’s not the one we should expect. Like a good joke that we can continue to laugh at, we need to hang on to our surprise that the “bad guy” comes out okay.

The most famous of tax collectors in the Gospels is Matthew – Jesus’ friend and follower whose is remembered as the author of the first of our Gospels. Probably the second most famous tax collector is Zacchaeus, the little man who wants to see Jesus, but can’t because he’s short. So he climbs a tree. He gets to see Jesus, but then finds that Jesus knows him and wants to spend time with him. As they do that Zacchaeus thanks Jesus by announcing that he will give half his possessions to the poor and he is going to pay back anyone he’s cheated – four fold. Jesus responds to this by saying that Salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ home. Jesus says that this man, Zacchaeus, is also a son of Abraham – just like any Jewish man – and that he, Jesus, came to save those who were lost. In both of these stories we find that Jesus had no question that the evil a man did would not remove him from God’s grace.

Jesus held out that this man was able to come into the presence of God. That’s what

How did this tax collector get into the temple? He was cleansed and washed before entering the temple just the way the Pharisee was cleansed and washed. What he knew that the Pharisee didn’t seem to know was that his ritual cleansing did not give him purity within. He participated in the appropriate ritual and so entered into the place of God, but he still needed to come before God and confess.

For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Now I have to confess something. I’m uncomfortable using the word “dearest”. You may be uncomfortable hearing it, but it isn’t a word I use normally and that makes me uncomfortable. I also have a history with the word. I like old movies. It was something I shared with my Dad and he introduced me to the movie “Little Lord Fauntleroy.” It is a fine movie, but in it the little boy calls his mother “Dearest.” I have to say ever since I was a kid I found it uncomfortable to hear that. I learned later that what I was experienced was described in the word “cloying”. It was a little too syrupy. But I’ve started using the word when I pray and when I talk about Jesus because I’ve come to realize that we don’t really have a better word. “Dearest” may not set well with you, but it’s started to grow on me. I’ve tried Best and Closest or even Deepest, but I’ve come to feel like “dearest” marks the kind of friend, not in a syrupy way, but in the clearest way.

But God is certainly the best, closest and deepest of friends. Do you have a best friend? Do you have a friend who is the best to you, who knows exactly what you’re like, who knows all your jokes, who knows what gets you angry and knows what touches your heart, who knows the limits of your intelligence or your temper or your wisdom – and still likes you? Do you have a friend who can tell you to your face to stop or to change or to pick yourself up and who you listen to when they say those things? Do you have a best friend who you trust to be honest with you and to tell you the truth – even about yourself?    That’s a good description of God’s way with us. Do you know what’s great about God? He’s our dearest friend.