The following sermon was delivered at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia on October 23, 1977. The speaker is the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Church. This morning's sermon is entitled, The Pharisee and the Publican. 

Looking at a parable in Luke chapter 18. If you care to follow along, you'll find it on page 911 of the Bibles in your pews. probably one of the most familiar parables story of the Pharisee and the publican or the tax collector the good bad Pharisee and the bad good tax collector I reflected earlier this morning at our communion service that I've probably preached on this at least half a dozen times or so.

I know of at least once here, so you've probably heard me, or at least maybe you have on this particular passage. And yet in coming back to it again this past week, I noticed something that I'd never previously seen before, and I'm pretty well convinced that it may be the most important thing, which is both encouraging and a little bit frightening. encouraging that there's always more to be seen and frightening to realize that so often we miss it.

Just wonder what I'll see next time around. There's a parable here and then there's a generalization that flows from it. The parable is straightforward and obvious.

It hardly needs any comment. Jesus says two men went up to the temple to pray. And that's about all they had in common, that they were men and that they went to pray.

From there on, it's a story of contrast. One, the Pharisee, the professionally righteous, the religious elite, the man who stands at the very top echelon of Jewish society. He's a man who is not only esteemed by others, but who holds himself in great esteem.

He refuses, sometimes under great pain, to compromise with the Romans at any given point whatsoever. He's determined to remain free from any defilement, at least as he understood it. Yet as he begins to pray, we notice that it's a completely self-centered prayer.

Five times in one sentence he uses the word I. God, I thank Thee that I am not like other men. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all I get.

You begin to sense what is the content of his prayer. More than that, notice what he says about himself. I thank Thee that I am not like other men.

tortioners, unjust adulterers, or even like this tax collector. There's no sense of being at one with someone else who's praying at the same time. What he's aware of is the sharp difference between them.

And a literal translation of that phrase is, I thank thee that I'm not like any other men. I'm not like the rest of men. He puts himself in a completely unique category.

I'm not like anybody else and I thank you that I'm not like anybody else his prayer in other words quickly becomes a matter of self-congratulation he stands erect proud arrogant he's quite ostentatiously calling attention to himself for his great holiness as he prays He calls upon God in words, but in words only. Notice how Jesus begins the parable. It says, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, or literally toward himself.

Toward himself. He's praying to himself. He's using language about God, but he's really praying to himself.

and his prayer rather than a petition for mercy is a proclamation of merit it's important that we notice one thing before leaving the Pharisee that his claim to righteousness is not without basis humanly speaking this is a good man a righteous man humanly speaking This is a man who goes well beyond the dictates of the law. The Pharisaic law said that he was to fast twice a year. This man fasts twice a week.

The law says that you're to tithe the increase. He tithes everything. When Jesus has harsh words for the Pharisees, it's not because they're liars about their righteousness.

They are righteous as far as the law goes. But it's for their self-righteousness that Jesus has some very strong things to say. That's what this man fails to see.

That in the midst of external righteousness, his heart has completely missed the point. And so in the sharpest kind of contrast, we have the Pharisee over here, And this publican, this tax collector, if the Pharisees at the top of society, the publican could not be further at the bottom. Because he's sold out.

He's not only completely capitulated to the Romans and become their agent for taxing his own people, but above and beyond what they would require, he takes his own slice by graft, by corruption. He bleeds his own people. he's about as close as you could come under these conditions to today's mafia he's the scum the pariah of society but he knows it and notice his prayer his prayer also concerns himself but this time it's with a completely different spirit he prays just one thing God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Again, if you were going to give a literal translation, you'd find that he too places himself in a unique category. Because literally translated, that would be, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The sinner.

I don't know about anybody else, Lord, but I know I'm a sinner. Paul wrote, this is a true saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then he went on to say, of whom I am chief.

I'm not sure if you'd agree with that assessment of Paul's. But one should agree with that assessment about himself. The publican isn't conscious of anyone else's sin. just as the Pharisee isn't conscious of anyone else's righteousness.

But he casts himself upon God for mercy. And once again, his whole being expresses his prayer. He too stands, but it's not in pride.

He stands afar off as if he's not even prepared to enter God's house. And his eyes, rather than being haughty and lifted up to heaven, are averted, downcast. And he beats his breast, his whole body expressing penitence.

And Jesus' comment on this little episode, this contrast, is I tell you, this man, the penitent, went down to his house justified. Well, I take it that I've always fairly well understood parable. As I said, it's straightforward.

But then Jesus steps back and generalizes from it. He gives us what really is one of his favorite epigrams. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

And what a fantastic statement that is. You could spend the afternoon just rummaging around in some of the implications of that statement. I don't know about you, but I really want to be exalted.

Why do you think I climbed up here? Jesus is telling us it's not wrong to want to be exalted. That's fantastic.

As a matter of fact, it's God's will that we be exalted. God wants us to be lifted higher and higher and higher in the esteem of men, angels, and God Himself. But there's a different way to get there than the way the world would tell us about.

The world would tell us it's a dog-eat-dog kind of a race to the top. Jesus says the way to get to the top is by being willing to serve. He who would be greatest among you shall be servant of all.

There's greatness in humility. God wants us to be exalted, but the way to get there is by being humble. and that pattern is worked out most greatly in the life of Jesus himself sometime and I urge you to do this soon go back and study the second chapter of Philippians and notice the incredible picture there it begins with a statement about Jesus that though he was in the form of God he counted equality with God not a thing to be grasped but he emptied himself he poured himself out in humility and in service and was willing to be born as a human being that for Jesus in the form of God would be roughly like you being born a tapeworm he was willing to humble himself to be born in the likeness of men to become a servant and that wasn't enough he was willing to go further than that and humble himself to death.

And that wasn't enough. It was death on a cross of crucifixion, which was taking upon himself all the shame and ignominy of the whole world. But the passage concludes, therefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

Why? Because he humbled himself. Humility led to exaltation.

And when you've finally begun to let that thought grip your imagination, look at how the passage begins. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, Have this mind in you which you have in Christ Jesus. In other words, what looks on the surface to be the most incredible statement of Christ's humility and exaltation is in fact a statement about us.

This is a pattern for you and me, that we, like Jesus, are to be humble, but that's not where it ends, in order that we, like Jesus, might be exalted. God wants us to be exalted He wants ordinary dust men and women to be so saturated with the life of Christ that like Him we'd be lifted up higher than the angels that's His will for us and there's a security in knowing that that's His will for us. There's a security in knowing the quality of His love.

You know, as I was growing up and entering my teenage years, I found myself with an inordinate need to impress girls. Now, most of you men don't share that, I know, but that was my particular problem. And the strangest thing about it was even girls that I didn't particularly care about, I had to try to impress.

And lo and behold, one day I met a girl who gave me her love. Ultimately shared all of life with me. And I found the most extraordinary thing happening, that in Karen's love, I found myself set free to be myself with other women.

Because I knew who I was in relationship to Karen, I didn't have the need to impress other girls anymore. Something like that begins to happen in our relationship with God. When we know the love of God, the will of God, the security of our relationship with Him, we don't have to have the esteem of men anymore.

It says that on the night before he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, got up from table, stripped off his garments and began to wash his disciples' feet. You get the order there? Jesus, knowing who he was in relationship to the Father, knowing that the Father had given all things, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, he had everything given to him, he knew who he was, he could afford to serve.

he didn't need the acclaim of men he could afford to humiliate himself as we begin to really know and count on our relationship with Christ we can afford to relax and become servants to each other so basically I think I understood the generalization you heard what I just said I didn't say I lived it I said I understood it I understood the parable and I understood the generalization what I never previously noticed was the connection between them and I want to share that with you this morning it's God's will that we be exalted the vehicle to exaltation is that we would humble ourselves and the question is how do you humble yourself well there are lots of ways there's a willingness to do the dirty, thankless, ignominious, behind-the-scenes jobs that nobody else wants to do. There's a willingness to pour yourself out for others, even to the point of washing their dirty, smelly feet. But if I read this passage rightly, the principal way to humble yourself is by confessing your sins.

I think that's the connection between the parable and the generalization. That God would have us learn the lesson from the publican, this bad good tax collector who went home justified. He humbled himself before God.

He confessed his sin. He looked at his sin as God looks at it. You know, the word confess means to say the same thing as.

I say the same thing about myself and about my sin that God says about it. I say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord, you're right.

We say the general confession. That's a step in the right direction, but it's not enough. Talking about keeping ruthlessly honest short accounts with God.

Day by day. You go to bed at night and before you go to bed, Lord, help me to look back across today and see it as you see it. David prayed, search me, O God, and try me and see if there be any wicked way within me.

That's a frightening prayer. You pray that kind of a prayer, you better duck. Because God will put his finger on what's wrong in your life.

Not that you might grovel in it. God isn't interested in that but that you might bring it to him to be cleansed 1 John says if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with God and we know that he cleanses us from sin we invite God to shine the light of his Holy Spirit into all the dark corners of our lives that we might see the dirt there and bring it to him that he might cleanse us and Jesus says I tell you this man went down to his house justified I'd like to ask you what greater exaltation there could be than to be justified before almighty holy God justified somebody once said the word justified means just as if I'd never done it just as if I'd never done it. The thing that you'd be too ashamed to have your best friend know about you.

The thing that you can't stand to look at. That you wouldn't want your mother, your father, your husband, your wife, your children, to even dream about. You bring that to God.

That He might cleanse it, heal it, forgive it, forget it. It says you cast it into the sea of God's forgetfulness. When God forgives, He forgets.

He washes clean. And we stand before Almighty Holy God, just as if I'd never done it. can you imagine running boldly into the throne of God just as if you had never done it and not hearing a word of condemnation but being treated as if you were Jesus Christ himself that's the heritage that is ours Joe Kitts asked us over and over and over last week do you pray?

do you pray? do you pray? I'd commend to you in your prayers confessing your sin I had a fellow come to see me recently and he said I know that the scripture would say that some of the things I've done are really wrong but you know I don't even feel bad about it Paul said to Timothy that our consciences can be seared that's cauterized you stick your hand into the fire and it burns you hold it there and it stops hurting because the nerve endings are killed they're deadened our consciences can be deadened by sin I said I'd like to ask you if you'd pray a prayer with me.

Let's ask God to allow you to see yourself as he sees you. To let your heart begin to hurt with what hurts him. He said I'd be willing to pray that prayer and we prayed.

It's just about that simple, that straightforward. God let me see myself as you see me. And all of a sudden he began to weep, this strong man sobbing uncontrollably as God allowed him to see just enough of himself that he could deal with himself God will never let you see all of yourself so he couldn't stand it but he let him see just enough of his sin that he could begin to deal with it and there was the most marvelous sense of cleansing and healing and forgiveness that afternoon and the joy that flooded in to take the place of that sorrow was amazing to behold ask God to let you see yourself as he sees you I'm convinced that may be the most important point in this teaching God would have us humble ourselves by confessing our sins that we might be forgiven healed, cleansed, restored filled with joy and go home justified that we might be humbled in order to be exalted Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, we bow before you. We'd confess to you that so often, even when we come to say some such prayer as the general confession, our real attitude when we say those words, miserable offenders, there is no health in us. Our real attitude is too often, yes Lord, there are some like that here.

Lord by your Holy Spirit help me to see just enough of myself to be broken in heart at the things which break your heart I would confess my sin to you not for the sake of wallowing in it but that I might be truly cleansed and restored I invite you to put your finger on that in my life of which I need to repent for Jesus Christ's sake Amen Amen.