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The Gospel this week (Luke
18.9-14), continues on the need for prayer and to keep praying without losing
hope. I am reminded of some things that Jesus has said when I read this passage
like, “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners...” and “Go and learn what
this means: I desire mercy not sacrifice.”
(Luke 5.32; Matthew 9.35)
The setting is a worship
service where there are these two men, one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. In the practice of ministry I have notice that there are two types
of worshipers: those who believe that they are fine the way they are and then
there are those who know there need of God’s mercy. One who is more concerned
about himself and the other worried about how God sees him and knows that he is
a day late and a dollar short. This puts him a position of contrition and
humility while the other stands and blithering way, talking more to himself,
thinking that God cared to listen.
It reminds me of a time early
in my ministry when there was a change of Rectors in the large parish were I
was serving at the time. Many times over several months and in many different
ways and venues, the new priest thought it okay to be publicly critical of how
I prayed and when I prayed, because to him, I “prayed too much.” The prayers
were too long and it took too much time from other things that might be more
important. Thing is, I have always found that I often end up in places and
spaces that I was always needed but rarely anticipated. I have seen and
continue to see that God uses me to help people even when they and/or I am
aware that this is what is going on.
To me, prayer is more than the
words that we offer to God – though the words we offer are important. Prayer is
more than the silences that we keep and the things that the Sprit prays for us
when we are a loss and do not know what to pray. Prayer is the attitude with
which we approach God, people and life in general. We need to live this life as
if we are in continuing mode of worship. Offering ourselves to people knowing
that we have God’s grace to spend and to be spent ourselves in the service of
the kingdom.
The Pharisee’s prayer was one
out of his peripheral vision: letting God how great and awesome I am and how
much better I am than the person next to me... just in case God has not noticed
the other because I am so great.
The tax collector was focused
on God, who God is and then who he saw himself to be in the light of the glory
of God. This man experienced the holiness and judgement of God. Because he
submitted and humiliated himself he finds that God’s mercy and grace are
effective and real – he gets to go home with the understanding that he has got
what he needed: mercy and forgiveness. These things have the potential to
transform his life, his family’s life and the community and nation around him. The
tax collector went home justified because it is God who forgave him and
justified him, not someone else.
How then will you live your liturgy
this week. Will you pour your heart out to God in prayer or will it us be a
passing fancy? A thing you do to get God to give you what to think you want?
Jason+
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