October 23, 2016

Susan Adams

Ordinary 30     Luke 18:9-14

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

Goodness me, what a menace to society Jesus is!

It is a good thing we did not elect him mayor of our Super City! Everything would be turned upside down. Things would be in chaos. It would seem, if the Lucan teller of this tale is to be believed, that Jesus would have us all be sinners who say sorry, rather than people struggling to do the right thing and live within the constraints of our laws and the expectations and protocols of our social system!

We are told in today's Gospel reading that the efforts of one who abides by the demands of society and the religious practices demanded of him by the fellowship he belonged to; who does his best to be an upright and responsible citizen and a leader of the Temple, are not sufficient to justify him: his efforts are inadequate to deserve our respect.

On the other hand, the despised tax collector – the collaborator with the Roman authorities, who has purchased the right to collect taxes and tolls from his fellow citizens; who according to popular perception has made life difficult for the local workers is, now that he stands at the back of the church and asks for forgiveness – to be applauded, emulated even! He went home justified. This doesn't seem quite right. And I'm really not sure if I would think it was at all right if I'd been over taxed and was struggling to make ends meet while he lived in relative luxury.

It seems a step too far for those of us who want to do the right thing and try hard to achieve it.

If we judge the Pharisee – in the way the parable invites us to – disparaging his efforts to be a socially responsible citizen, then we are behaving in the same way as those to whom the story was addressed – the ones judging others contemptuously. After all the Pharisee is only describing things as he sees it and doing the best to do the right thing.

But, if we behave like the tax collector and stand around in the back of the church beating our breast and saying how wicked we are, who benefits from that? How helpful is that to our community and the people who have been ripped off and now face financial hardship?

It's hard to figure this one out.

It would appear, on the surface, that the breast beating tax collector is the one to emulate, while the one who made a contribution to others through his leadership, tithing and prayers is not.

It seems to me too simplistic to say that those not generally valued by society, in this instance (for example) the tax collector, are the ones valued by God above others.

And even the interpretation that we are used to hearing that suggests we should be like the tax collector and own our sinfulness in a humble way does not satisfy me although it is clearly present in the story that we are loved by God, justified by God, not by anything that we might do to live righteously and earn that love simply because we are. This is one comforting message from the story but is there another? If we reflect a bit deeper is there another insight that Jesus might have been hoping we would understand, if he did ever tell this parable this way. (This might be Luke's message to the struggling Christian community he was addressing but was it Jesus message?)

It is easy for us, we have heard the story often, to 'hear' the expected reversal motif we know to look for in parables, in the example of the humble tax collector who will be justified and exalted by God and not in the puffed up Pharisee.

If we consider the big picture of Jesus' life that the Gospels present to us, the general sweep of Jesus' teaching and life, unpicked from the historical overlays written much later, we get the idea that Jesus is concerned to build a kind and generous community that cares for all the members even those it is easy to marginalise, to push aside. The examples that we have in the stories and parables that illustrate Jesus teaching are of Jesus seeking to build relationships of mutual concern, of acceptance of diversity, and of inclusion of difference; where none go hungry, are violated or disrespected.

Jesus is prepared to challenge and even overturn laws, systems and expectations to do this – whether or not those systems and expectations are religious or secular. The disciples who follow Jesus are encouraged to do what they can to bring this about. It seems to me the reversal we are looking for is tucked in here.

I want to read across the grain of this story, to read between the lines of what is being said. I want to 'read' the white space between the lines and around the edge of the page to explore what might be still hidden for us to find!

For me, today, this is not a story about personal/individual successes and failures, it is not about satisfying a judge outside of our human community who will decide if we are in or out, worthy or unworthy – righteous or justified – it's not a story with a moral twist directed at us individually. You may have noticed as I have, that all three of the characters 'Luke' uses to tell his story – the Pharisee, the Tax Collector and God (who is not directly present), highlight something unexpected: each of them is concerned with self, with personal piety and with power to vindicate actions.

As I see it today, against the background of our own contextual issues, the reversals this parable points to are

• the importance of being in right-relations with others – crossing boundaries and barriers

• the importance of doing something to change matters we know are wrong, and

• the importance of using the power we have as community.

None of these things are directly present in the text of story as we have it!

I guess I am speaking then of the 'truth hidden from the wise', the 'treasure hidden in the field' – or 'written' in the white spaces around the text.

We are being invited to put aside our concern for self-justification and to take up a concern for the well being of others; we are being invited to do what is 'right', and being asked to point to the potential for change that lies among us; we are being encouraged to stop leaving things to a God 'outside' of our lives and to own the collective power we have to press for creative life-giving decisions – tap into the God amongst us. I think these things are the kernel of the parable – these are the reversals there for us to discover!

So, with the shift in power from 'them' to 'us'

• It was good to hear the new mayor put the Living Wage back on the agenda of the Council – some of us will be keeping the pressure on about that.

• It is good to hear of renewed discussions about real possibilities for affordable housing – some of us will keep the pressure on this

• it is great to hear the United Nations call to the Government to tackle the issues of children living in poverty and all the vulnerabilities that surround that, some of us will keep the pressure on here

• Housing First is a brave and complex project that the City Mission has embraced, some of us will support this

We know these things are right, not because they will earn us stars in heaven, but because they will make for a healthier kinder community.

This is timely as the new city council settles in and we have an opportunity influence priorities.

As I see it the parable compels us to shift our concern from ourselves to others.

It is not so much that God loves us 'simply because', but that we loves others enough to desire their wellbeing.

We need something of each of the characters in the story,

• we need to know how the systems that shape and organise our communities and our lives work

• we need to build relationships so we can influence them

• taxes are required: to be paid fully, to be collected fairly and reasonable, and distributed to places of need.

Life-giving and empowering energy lies amongst us – God present with us – together we have the power to engage in the building up of the people we live amongst. Let's use it, and embrace the chaos Jesus creates.