Episode 26: Ash Wednesday

Readings:

Psalm 130
Jonah 3-4:11
Hebrews 12:1-14
Luke 18:9-14

Sermon:

In today’s gospel reading Our Lord sets up a classic confrontation between two great Biblical characters, the self-righteous Pharisee and the self-despising tax collector. We are accustomed to viewing the Pharisee as the villain of the story, and Jesus does have harsh words for this spiritual showoff. Indeed, this parable has become so ingrained in our culture that to call someone a Pharisee is synonymous with hypocrite, one of the worst insults that can be hurled at a person.

In Jesus’s day, however, Pharisees were seen as heroic figures, the counter-cultural rebels who tried to live holy and perfect lives according to the ancient Law that God had given to Moses, and which had been neglected to Israel’s peril far too many times in her history. Tax collectors, on the hand, never popular even today, were despised as the lowest of the low, collaborators with an oppressive Roman government who profited from the sufferings of their fellow countrymen. So it would only seem natural for the Pharisee in the story to puff out his chest a little and thank God that he was not like that lowlife traitor.

Jesus reminds His listeners, and us today, that even the best behavior and most worthy deeds are of no value in God’s eyes when they are not performed with a humble and contrite heart. Our Lord does not belittle the good works of the Pharisee, nor does He romanticize the tax collector’s sinful life. Rather He looks at their hearts: one heart puffed up with pride, expecting God to admire it; the other heart pierced with sorrow and asking only for God’s mercy.

During the holy season of Lent, which begins today, it is customary for Christians to take on some form of spiritual discipline in preparation for Easter, whether acts of self-denial such as fasting or abstaining from a favorite food, or in dedication to meditation, study, or acts of charity. The goal of these practices, however, should be to for us to draw closer to God and enjoy a deeper fellowship with Him, not to make us feel that we are more spiritual than our neighbors or that we are deserving of admiration for our mighty deeds of righteousness. It matters not to God whether we eat fish on Friday or give up pie for Lent if this is done with an attitude of superiority and condescension; these same deeds, however, if done with a true desire for a closer communion with Our Lord, will strengthen our spirits and give us the joy of a fresh love and appreciation for His grace and mercy towards us. Let us be thankful then, not that we are better than our sinful neighbors, but that Our Lord loves both the righteous and the sinners, and offers the same gracious gift of salvation to all those who will humble themselves to accept it.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.