2022 10 23 Sermon

Looking Beyond Stereotypes

Pentecost 20 C

Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

Luke 18:9-14

Ever notice how in every state, people have another state they look down on? When I was growing up in New York, we of course looked down on New Jersey. It just seemed obvious. Then when I began serving my first church in Pennsylvania, I learned that Pennsylvanians also looked down on New Jersey. When I went to college in Minnesota, people looked down on Iowa. Later, when we lived in Nebraska, it seemed that people there looked down on…Iowa! Whatever might happen, you could say “well, at least I don’t live in New Jersey, or Iowa.” Until one day you meet some people from one of those states, and while a few of them might confirm your worst suspicions, most of them are actually pretty nice.

People who come from different places might see the world differently because of their different life experiences. But if you have an openness and curiosity about people, you’ll probably find some common ground. On the other hand, if we just stay in our own “little bubbles” it becomes easy to paint caricatures of those who do not live in our “bubbles”. Whether it’s the way people from one state think about people from another state; or the perceptions and misperceptions the people of one generation often have for people of a different generation; or the daily bombardment of political advertisements and social media memes—it can be pretty easy and tempting to deal in stereotypes, which in turn makes it easier to hold “those people” in contempt, or even demonize them.

Jesus tells a parable directed at “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” He sets up his story with two people who were pretty easier to caricature or stereotype in those days, a Pharisee and a tax collector—except this time, Jesus turns the caricatures upside down.

“God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” So prayed the Pharisee; except it wasn’t so much a prayer to draw him closer to God as it was a way of congratulating himself for his own righteousness, while looking down upon others who didn’t live up to his standards.

We’re kind of conditioned to hear the word “Pharisee” and think “hypocrite”. But in the time of Jesus, the general population regarded most Pharisees with high esteem. They were basically the most upstanding members of the community. And if you look at the details of his prayer you can see why. He’s honest—not a thief or a rogue. He prays and worships. He’s generous with his money and resources. He’s faithful in marriage. He works an honest job, and helps other people. For Jesus to tell a story with the Pharisee as the villain would have been shocking to the people back then.

But when you look at the point Jesus makes to conclude the parable, it makes sense: “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The Pharisee is the villain, not because of his behavior in everyday life—after all he’s a good person! He’s the villain because he defines himself by the people he looks down upon. He has no awareness of his own need for God’s grace, no openness to understanding what circumstances might have led the tax collector into doing a task everybody else despised. The Pharisee puts his trust in his own self-righteousness, and in doing so he demonstrates the “shadow-side” that can come with living what is considered a good and moral life: it’s that I start thinking that my goodness is the reason God loves me, and other people’s badness is the reason God condemns them.

Next up in the parable, we have the tax collector. We’re conditioned to hear “tax collector” and think “despised”—and that’s because they were! In the days of Jesus, they not only betrayed their own people by working for the hated Roman Empire, they also took advantage of their countrymen by adding money to people’s tax bills and keeping the extra for themselves. For Jesus to make the tax collector the hero of this parable would be shocking!

The tax collector was defined by the stigma placed upon him by others, and therefore is completely aware of his need for God’s grace. He knows he is not an upstanding member of the community, which leads him to humbly demonstrate an openness to God’s judgement for being a sinner. He finds connection with God through his prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He recognizes that he cannot trust in any way his own righteousness, because he doesn’t have any. It is only the grace of God that can heal the breach between him and God, and heal the breach between him and other people. It is God alone who can bring him salvation.

This parable is a difficult word given to us by Jesus because he’s letting us know, there is no hiding from God—only honesty will do. And the more honest and open you can be with God about the “shadow-side” of your life, then the more of God’s love and grace it is possible for you to experience. That’s why Jesus says the tax collector “went home justified” and not the Pharisee.

But it can be hard to be so open and honest with God, because we want to trust our own righteousness. We want our goodness and morality to earn us an eternal reward, or at least some earthly benefit. Jesus challenges us to see that whoever casts aside any claims of self-righteousness, and opens their heart, mind, and soul to the mercy of God, receives through faith a right relationship with God—won for us by Christ who gave himself on the cross for our forgiveness, and rose again for our justification (our being-made-right with God).

The problem is, each of us has a bit of the Pharisee in us. Each of us has people who we say, “Thank God I’m not like them!” I won’t make a list for this sermon, because it’s probably a bit different for each of us. But I guarantee that each of has a list.

With this parable, Jesus challenges us to look beyond the stereotypes and caricatures we have of other people. Rather than seek reasons to look down on others, hold them in contempt, or even turn them in to enemies, with the Holy Spirit’s help we can assume a posture of humility, and pray like the tax collector—not to beat ourselves up, that’s not the point. The point is to gain an openness to God’s grace and love coming into our lives that will save us from self-righteousness, and lift us into a new way of being, and of relating to people: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

You don’t have to change yourself in order for God to love you. God already loves you, no matter what. But experiencing the unconditional love of God in your life, with an open and humble heart, does create the possibility for God to change you; and for you to help others know how much they are already loved by God. Amen.