TITLE: “God is merciful to you, a sinner”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this morning is from the Gospel lesson just read, with focus on these words, And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

For two thousand years these two men have stood in the Temple of God.  The one thought he was righteous, and the other knew he was not.  The one looked at himself and thought, what a great man am I!  The other looked to God and pleaded for mercy.  These are the two ways: the way of death, and the way of life.

So where are you?  Are you the Pharisee or the Publican?  When you pray, is it really about you or is it about God?  What does it mean finally to be a Christian?  What is your posture before God?  Do you stand proud of all your accomplishments, or do you kneel and receive Christ’s righteousness?

As we look at the so-called faith of the Pharisee, there is one word that pops up again and again in our text: I.  Hear again his prayer: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'  I, I, I, I, I.  It defines him.  It is all about him.  He is not like all of the sinners.  He fasts as a sign of piety, and he gives lots of money to the church. 

In our basic selfishness that is what we are about.  Everything in the church must be about me.  Everything at home must be about me.  I am the center of my universe.  I’ve recently been reading the Harry Potter books.  There are good things and bad things in them, but one thing in particular has struck me: the power always lies within the person.  When Harry gets into a bind, he has to get himself out.  The magic comes from within; it never comes from someone else or somewhere else.

Now it’s easy to spot that as wrong, but is that so different from so much of the self-help and self-empowerment stuff we hear about so much today?  The answer, of course, is no, it’s not that different at all.  The power is within you.  Use the force.  Find your inner light.  Whatever the fad or the gimmick, it always comes down to convincing you that you have the power to change your own world.

This is why when the Pharisee went to the Temple he went to brag.  I go to the Temple.  I do this.  I say that.  He thought that worship was all about proving to God how great he was.  We can see this too in the story of Cain and Abel.  They both offered God sacrifices, but Cain did so out of fear and unbelief.  He believed that because he was the firstborn, that He deserved God’s favor.  Abel believed that he was justified by faith.

We all fall into this trap of bragging to God, and it is so wrong.  The devil wants you to believe that it is your job to prove to God that you are worthy of His love.  Why?  Because the devil knows that sooner or later, you will remember that you aren’t worthy of God’s love on your own, and so you will fall into despair.

Don’t believe it, my friends!  You can’t prove to God that you are worthy, for you aren’t worthy.  Our Epistle lesson reminds us that God is the one who makes us alive through Holy Baptism.  It is His work always, and never ours. 

This is why the tax collector is the perfect image of the Christian at prayer.  He recognizes who he is.  The Pharisee publicly shames him, and the tax collector doesn’t deny it.  He is a sinner.  He is not worthy to enter into God’s house.  But this weak sinful tax collector understands God’s true nature better than the Pharisee ever could.  He understands that God’s nature is to show mercy and pity.  That is God’s true character.  So when the tax collector comes to God’s house to pray, He actually asks God for something.  He asks for mercy, because that’s what God promises to give to those who come to Him in repentance.

Perhaps St. Paul said it best in our Epistle lesson:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Our God is rich in mercy.  In the midst of death He brings life.  In the midst of despair He brings hope.  In the midst of heartache and sorrow He brings the balm of His healing word to your soul.  This is why the tax collector could go into the Temple, sinner that He was,  and could plead to God for mercy.

We prayed in our Introit for the day that God is in His holy habitation.  He gives a home to the desolate.  This is God’s house.  This is where He dwells.  So when you are troubled and full of pain, this is the place where He gives you a home.  It is sometimes hard to believe that God actually dwells with His people, but He does.  What kind of mercy would Christ be showing by staying far away from our troubles?

This is why He comes down to dwell with His people.  This is why He raises us up with Him in the resurrection from the dead.  He does this so that we may sit together in the heavenly places with Him, and that we may come to know more and more of God’s riches and mercy.

It’s hard to believe at times.  In our pride and selfishness we still believe that our job is to prove to God that we are worthy of His love.  Like the Pharisee we can get so stuck on ourselves that it is hard to see past it.  But by His gifts of Law and Gospel, Christ wipes away the old sinful man in you, and makes you new again.  Like the tax collector in our story, you may go home justified and right with God.  For God’s mercy doesn’t stop when you walk out those doors.  No, His mercy and love will stay with you all the days of your life.  At home, at work, at school or at play, God’s merciful presence never ends for His children.

Come, then, to this holy place, and receive again and again the words of life and forgiveness given to you by Christ himself.  God is merciful to you, a sinner.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.