pentecost 22 year C

Joel 2: 23-32 NRSV text
Psalm 65 NRSV text
2 Timothy 4: 6-8; 16-18 NRSV text
Luke 18: 9-14 NRSV text

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector follows immediately upon Jesus’ question: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (18:8). This parable is set “on the way to Jerusalem” (17:11) and, within that narrative framework, as part of a conversation (or series of conversations) that is provoked by a question from a Pharisee: “When is the Kingdom of God coming?” (17:20). Everything that Jesus has said subsequently has been characterised by the element of surprise. The Kingdom is indeed coming – but not in the way that his audience (both disciples and Pharisees) expect. The timing is unexpected. Most importantly, the nature of the Kingdom will prove to be unexpected. God, according to Jesus, will act and judge in surprising ways because God is not the sort of God people envisage God to be.

There is a real urgency behind what Jesus is trying to say. Both the Pharisees and the disciples share crucial misapprehensions in common. Both groups fail to understand Jesus’ message. We need to remember the fundamental conviction that Jesus and his audience shares, namely, that the coming of the Kingdom of God (Jesus did not invent the phrase – it was the subject of intense popular speculation) would be the fulfilment of the prophetic promise that “peace and righteousness would kiss”. The question that exercised people, therefore, was, “Who are the righteous people? For whom will the Kingdom be Good News, and for whom will it be judgement and damnation?”

Jesus’ message is that this is the wrong question! God is not interested primarily in who is righteous, but rather in who is lost. The Kingdom is not a divinely-invoked nuclear attack, but a divine rescue mission. People are wrong to set their hopes on being found righteous; rather, the reason for hope – the basis of the Good News of the coming Kingdom – is that God is gracious. The Kingdom is gift rather than reward. The question is not whether people are on “God’s side” (as opposed to “the other side”), but whether they are able to recognise that God is on their side! Those who recognise the Kingdom (and therefore God) as “gift” are those who will be blessed, because they will be able to respond in excited love and gratitude. By contrast, those who expect the coming of the Kingdom in terms of power and vindication will find that they are unable to cope with either the Kingdom or God! The Kingdom will not come in power, glory and triumph, but in ignominious, public failure, ridicule and death. Blessed will be the eyes that will be able to see, in the crucified Messiah, the saving purposes of God! This is the basis of the Great Reversal in Jesus’ preaching.

Yet if this is so unexpected – and therefore so difficult – that even Jesus’ closest friends and companions will miss the point and abandon him, what hope is there? Hence Jesus’ question in 18:8: “Will the Son of Man find faith on earth?”

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector
Here, in 18:9, Jesus turns his attention more closely to the issue of how entry into the Kingdom is possible. How are we to understand God? How are we to live and act? What sort of disposition and life-habit characterises the person who will experience the Kingdom as Good News (or, in Jesus’ terms, “Who can enter the Kingdom?”).

Jesus will go on to bless little children in the face of opposition from the disciples, meet a rich young ruler who will not be able to take the step of selling what he has and putting his wealth at the service of the poor, heal a blind beggar near Jericho whom the people try to prevent from coming to Jesus, and go to tea with a despised tax collector. In each case, the thread linking these incidents is the motif of division that he begins in this parable – the division between those who have faith and act faithfully, on the one hand, and “others” who are self-possessed, concerned with their own honour and position, confident in their righteousness and who look with contempt on those in need, on the other. These latter actually position themselves as a self-imposed “contamination barrier” between the needy and the compassionate God who is at work in Jesus’ ministry.

It boils down to this: who will not only recognise God as the gracious gift-bearer, and not only come to God in grateful, open-handed expectation, but also behave graciously towards others? For it is these, says Jesus, who will enter the Kingdom.

Two words of caution: firstly, we must not assume that Jesus’ target audience here is the Pharisees as opposed to the disciples! Throughout this Travel Narrative, Luke has been at pains to show that, while Jesus may focus in turn first on the disciples and then on the Pharisees, the narrative suggests that both groups are constantly present, overhearing all that Jesus has to say. If the Travel Narrative is designed to make clear the nature and cost of discipleship, we must remember that, in the end, Jesus walks the Way of the Cross alone, abandoned by the disciples. The Travel Narrative challenges both disciples and Pharisees alike; it does not present the disciples as archetypes of true discipleship!

Secondly, although the parable is obviously connected to the preceding parable by the theme of prayer, this parable is about far more than prayer. The parable deals with the attitudes of the prayerful – their attitude to God and their concrete social and religious practice in society. The location for this parable is the temple – the place of public prayer. Prayer, in other words, is happening in the very place that gives shape to the world of Jewish faith. The temple, with its courts, was structured to represent the divinely-appointed shape of the world, dividing Jews and Gentiles, men and women, the faithful and those on the outside. It is this very structure that Jesus challenges in his proclamation of the Kingdom. That is why the temple – the centre of the universe of Jewish faith – is, in Jesus’ eyes, also the centre of opposition to the Kingdom. Here, in the parable, Jesus takes the confrontation of world-views into the very heart of it all. For him, how we view God determines and is reflected by how we view and behave towards others.

The parable is told to “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous”. That sounds very Pauline – and indeed, it is! Jesus’ audience here is those people (Pharisees, disciples and others) who have become convinced of their won righteousness and have come to depend on themselves. The point is that they have become convinced in their own minds that they are able to live honourably before God quite apart from divine mercy. They don’t need God to be gracious; they can make it on their own.

Jesus emphasises this by the Pharisee’s prayer. It begins as a psalm of thanksgiving (“God, I thank you …”). Yet instead of following the form of such a psalm, and flowing immediately into a recitation of God’s greatness, goodness and graciousness, the Pharisee substitutes his own actions for God’s actions as the things for which he is thankful! “… that I am not other people: thieves, rogues adulterers, or even like this tax collector!” There is not even a sense of “There but for the grace of God go I”. He prays further: “I fast twice a week (ie more than the prescribed religious fasts) and give one tenth of all my income”. End of prayer.

And what about “this tax collector”? The Pharisee had been standing “by himself” – ie he was self-sufficient. The tax collector, by contrast, “was standing far off”. He mirrors his own social exclusion. He has no pretensions before either the community or God. His humility is contrasted with the confidence of the Pharisee: “he would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast”. And look at his prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”. End of prayer.

It is all too easy to see the tax collector as an example of the “worthless worm” theology: the notion that what is appropriate is to grovel before God because we are thoroughly wicked and utterly worthless. Yet Jesus is not commending grovelling. The contrast here is between the Pharisee’s confidence in his own righteousness before God, and the tax collector’s recognition that there is hope because God is merciful. The Pharisee trusts that he is righteous and will be approved of by God; the tax collector trusts that God is gracious and will forgive.

There is a wonderful irony here: the Pharisee goes home, (mistakenly) convinced that he is justified (not by God but before God!), and the knock-down proof, for him, is that he is not like the tax collector. Yet it is the very same tax collector who is the one who is justified! The parable climaxes with the saying, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted”. Here Jesus echoes the Magnificat: “He has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant … His mercy is for those who fear him … he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:48, 50-51). This is the God of the Great Reversal – the God who doesn’t weigh things like righteousness and sin and social standing as we do.

There is a new world coming. It is called the Kingdom. Its keynote is grace and inclusiveness. But the inclusiveness begins the other way up – at the other end of the queue of those waiting to enter the Kingdom. It is for these least first. That does not mean to say that it excludes others – the “righteous”, the rich, the comfortable: rather, the question is, can these latter see “the least” as “the first”? “Can they cope with grace?” in other words.

Being “poured out” (2 Timothy 4: 16-18)
Whether this is Paul writing, or a later admirer, doesn’t really matter much. The point is that what we see reflected here is Paul’s mindset and assessment of his own ministry.

There is a constant – and absolutely understandable – fascination in Pauline studies with Paul’s psychology. Let’s face it: Paul is fascinating! What makes him tick? He seems such a bundle of contradictions at times. Certainly, he’s been alternately vilified and adored, depending on where you’re coming from and on your assessment of what he intends. He’s a glorious mixture of arrogance (or at least self-confidence) and humility. In other words, in terms of our gospel reading for this week, Paul appears to exemplify in himself both the Pharisee and the tax collector! He is, after all, a Pharisee – and a devout one! But then he’ll talk about himself as “the least of the apostles” and the epitome of foolishness (assuming, of course, that these are not mere rhetorical devices – but then, that’s the point: you never can tell with Paul!).

Here Paul is in prison. He hasn’t long to live. Soon, he will meet his end as part of Rome’s service of its emperor. His life will be a “libation” –a sacrificial drink-offering – to the Emperor. And here Paul turns it round: it will, in fact, be a libation to God in the footsteps of Jesus. It’s a sad ending to a great life. He isn’t viewed among the Christian Churches as the Nelson Mandela of the early Church – incarcerated unjustly, and the subject of all sorts of campaigns to get him released. In fact, he has been abandoned by “everyone”. His enemies (by which is meant his fellow-Christian leaders) are using the opportunity to blacklist him further. It’s as dangerous to be a Paul-supporter as it is to be an Everton fan in the Liverpool stands! Timothy is under pressure similarly to distance himself from Paul.

In other words, it would be pretty understandable for Paul to be extremely bitter and self-justificatory. He has given his all for the gospel and for the Christians in the churches he has founded (Paul isn’t someone who does things by half-measures!). Like Jesus, he has been abandoned by his closest friends – those in whom he has made the greatest personal investment – at the point when he most needs them. This was Paul’s Gethsemane – yet, as Jesus (in Luke’s gospel) was “strengthened” by angels, Paul discovers the same Jesus close by and strengthening him.

I think that it is this deep awareness of the presence of Christ – and probably a conscious association in his mind of Gethsemane – that keeps Paul from bitterness and despair. It is the example of Jesus that encourages him: if it’s all going pear-shaped, and he has been abandoned, and is facing death … it’s probably a sure sign that he’s on the right track! That is why he feels it appropriate to use the language of sacrifice about his ministry. His death is not a waste, or a sign of failure: rather, Paul is modelling within himself and his ministry the Way of the Cross.

Paul’s assessment of his ministry is theological rather than psychological, in other words. This is important, because we have learned to be rightly suspicious of the language of sacrifice since Freud. Self-sacrifice can all too easily be a cover for low self-image and the refusal to be properly assertive. It can mask a sense of worthlessness and a drive to please others.

This is why the language of self-sacrifice in the light of the cross is so startling – because it is true! The gospel narratives are at pains to point out that Jesus deliberately embraces the Way of the Cross – not because he has to, but because he chooses to. That is what Gethsemane, supremely, is all about. John makes it clear in his portrayal of Jesus before Pilate: “You do not take my life from me,” says Jesus, “but I choose to lay it down. You only appear to have power over me; in fact, the power of life and death rests firmly in my own hands!” That is why Paul takes of kenōsis in Philippians 2 – the self-emptying of Christ. At every point, self-sacrifice is a deliberate choice. It is a genuine choice because Jesus genuinely has the power to choose otherwise.

Paul, too, had the power to choose. He needn’t have “appealed to Caesar”. He could have played his cards differently in the many conflicts with which he found himself engaged. He could have been far more assertive about his own authority – he could have played the Church politics game to his advantage. Yet Paul models himself on the Christ he proclaims. At the centre of Paul’s theology is the cross of the crucified Messiah, in which the power and grace of God is made visible and effective. Paul understands what Jesus is trying to tell his audience on the way to Jerusalem! Will the Son of Man find faith on earth? Yes – at least in Paul, if no one else. Paul is one of those who is a true follower – not only in terms of what he believes, but in how he lives and relates to others. It is people like Paul who will enter the Kingdom.

The promise of restoration and reparation (Joel 23-27)
There’s a dynamic to the book of Joel – and to this week’s passages particularly – that runs very close to the flow and themes of the gospel text. Joel is a fascinating book. It is remarkably historically non-specific, indicating that it was used in a number of different contexts. We can date it only with probably accuracy to the 7^th century BCE, when Israel had disappeared. The waning power of the Assyrian empire in the region encouraged small nation states to form alliances and make incursions into Judean territory. These are the “locusts” – although the occasion for writing was in all probability a devastating invasion of real locusts. It must have been terrifying: first a swarm of swarming locusts, then after them, the hoppers, to eat what the swarmers had left, then a third type (destroyer) to carry on eating what is left by the previous two swarms, and finally a swarm of cutters, who gnaw away even the stumps of the corn left standing from before. The destruction is complete. The Day of the Lord has come – but it is not what the people had longed for or expected!

This week’s passage is the beginning of the oracle of salvation. Yahweh has visited the plagues – both insect and military – on Judah. The fields are devastated on the orders of Yahweh’s great armies. But now the time of judgement is over, and Yahweh promises to restore and repay what has been destroyed.

I think the poetry of 2:25 is among the most evocative in the Old Testament: “I will repay you for the years the locust has eaten”. What a wonderful image! The barren years; the years of despair and distress; the years of Yahweh’s apparent absence … Yahweh is going to make these up! They will be replaced by feasting. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. The people will eat in plenty and be satisfied. These are classical biblical images of super-abundance, which is synonymous with the blessing and presence of Yahweh. Instead of a sense of Yahweh’s absence, there will be certain knowledge that “Yahweh is in the midst of Israel”.

What is the response of the people? “You shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you” (2:26). Why will they think that Yahweh has dealt wondrously with them? The most obvious – and wrong! – answer is that the vats are full and all is well. “Thanks a lot, God!” But this is not what the prophet means. Yahweh does not only “deal wondrously” when things are going well. The prophet has in his mind’s eye the whole broad sweep of judgement, destruction and restoration. The locusts are as much an aspect of Yahweh’s “dealing wondrously” as the overflowing vats and granaries.

Judgement is not meant to be seen negatively, in the sense that Yahweh’s judgement is ultimately part of divine blessing. It is a sign of Yahweh’s care; of genuine relationship. As the AV puts it, “Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth”. Judgement is the flip side of liberation and salvation, just as the cross is the flip side of resurrection. Just as Paul was able to understand his suffering as part of God’s presence and blessing, so Israel will learn (at cost!) that being Yahweh’s child includes being disciplined – and that, at the end of the day, this is a blessing.

The new thing of the Spirit (Joel 2: 28-32)
Here the prophet announces something startling. Yahweh is about to pour out the divine Spirit on “all flesh”. Does this mean on all of the chosen people, or on the whole world? In the prophetic context, most probably the former. It’s going to be amazing! The description of what happens – people having dreams and visions, ecstatic utterances, and generally way-out behaviour of the type associated with very strong hallucinogenic (and illegal!) substances – is deeply embedded in the literature of the Old Testament.

We need to be excited and amazed by the universalism of this outpouring. No one is exempt. But we need also to be disturbed by the chaos. The world order has been turned on its head. The old divisions don’t apply. It’s not only on free people that Yahweh pours the Spirit, but on slaves, as well – and on female as well as male slaves to boot! Small wonder that Yahweh goes on to announce portents – images of the world order turned on its head. This is apocalyptic language: “The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood”. It is the language of the ending of the world as we know it.

And that is precisely what is happening in the temple in this week’s parable. The world, as mirrored by the temple layout, is changing, because God is doing a new thing in Jesus. It is something that is for everyone – especially for those who have always found themselves on the outside, barred from coming close to God. It is through Jesus, and involves the action of the Holy Spirit. The effect is chaotic! It has turned Paul’s world upside down. It is going to turn Joel’s world upside down. Nothing will work as it “ought”. It’s the Great Reversal. It’s the Kingdom. And it ought to be taking shape in the lives and actions of the community of disciples – the Church.

“The years that the locusts have eaten”. Doesn’t that sound like Church in our lifetimes? Haven’t we watched all that we’ve so carefully planted and tended wither away and die – or be eaten by the huge social shifts in our contemporary world? Pray God that this oracle from Joel is a promise to us today – that we are living on the cusp of the new thing that God is going to do – and use us to accomplish, in the power of the Spirit.

Amen.

 

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