Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured… St. Luke 15:1-10; also I Timothy 1:12-17
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Saint Luke the Evangelist is called the “beloved physician” in the New Testament (Col 4:14), and this may help explain why Luke’s Gospel emphasizes the ministry of Jesus as one of healing. Jesus heals, makes whole, restores to life, redeems, through his works and words. This is why so many various outcast and poor people were drawn to him; and Jesus received them and ate with them, which caused trouble.
Today’s Gospel from Saint Luke begins with conflict among those who were around Jesus and his disciples. On the one hand were “tax collectors and sinners,” which is one of Luke’s ways of describing some of the outcast and poor. “Tax collectors” were outcast, in the eyes of the strict and observant Jews, because they worked for the detested Roman overlords of Judea, collected tribute for Rome, and often profited as tax agents. “Sinners” is a catch-all term for all sorts of people who did not measure up to standards of religious, ethical, or social respectability.
On the other hand were the Pharisees and scribes, the exemplars of religious observance. These murmured at the presence of the tax collectors and sinners and at Jesus’ reception of and willingness to eat with them; the Pharisees and scribes doubted Jesus’ authenticity as a prophet and questioned the standards of his disciples.
Jesus had genuine disciples from each group. On the outcast side, we might think of Saint Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, who had been a tax collector; or Zaccheus, another tax collector, or Saint Mary Magdalene, who was healed of demons by Jesus. On the Pharisee side we could mention Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, or even Saint Paul. Then there were apparently ordinary folks in the middle, such as Saint Peter, Saint Mark, Saints James and John, Saint Thomas, or Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany and many others, including Saint Luke himself; they may have comprised a majority. Jesus’ original community of disciples, in other words, was made of the same types that we still see in his church, including this church.
What Saint Luke points out for us is the conflict raised by the presence of two types of sinners around Jesus: those who are obviously sinners and are aware of it, the “tax collectors and sinners,” and those who have a cover for their sin and are unaware that the cover is transparent to Jesus: the Pharisees and scribes. The sin of the tax collector and the harlot is apparent; the illness of the paralytic, the possessed and the leper is there to see; and poverty is usually visible. It requires a closer look in order to perceive, as Jesus did, the below-the-surface sinfulness, illness, and poverty of the other group, the Pharisees and scribes: the sin of self-righteousness, the illness of self-deception, and the poverty of sham and pretence.
In Luke’s Gospel, the diagnosis of Pharasaic self-righteousness begins with the evangelist’s description of their suspicious observation of Jesus. They do not hear or listen to him; they monitor him. This then develops into a hostile surveillance. They send spies to report back on what he says and does, so that evidence can be gathered against Jesus. They set up people to ask him questions designed to trap Jesus in his talk: “Teacher, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery; the law says to stone such; what do you say?” And so on. The censorious squint of the Pharisees grew into a full grudge with lethal intentions. Private grumbles became public condemnations. The cross was being prepared for Jesus, something he had long foreseen and predicted as the climax of his ministry. What is the Church to do about her Pharisees?
Now listen to the words of that great redeemed Pharisee Saint Paul in today’s epistle. “I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted [Jesus our Lord]; but I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me… The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners, but I received mercy…” (I Tim 1:12-17) This Pharisee saw his sins of self-righteousness and repented; he accepted God’s mercy right alongside the outcasts.
Christian fellowship, a Christian Church, is not a place where “righteous” people are separated from “sinners.” Jesus did not employ quarantines nor recognize such distinctions. The service orientation of the Lord, who emptied himself on our behalf, even to the death of the cross, defines the community he founds and leads. His Church is to be accessible, available, and redemptive; so that the lost are actually found, but also so that the righteous and respectable do not become sick and self-righteous. On the contrary, as Jesus said, there is joy within his Church and among the angels of God over one sinner, whether a tax collector or a Pharisee, who repents.
The good news is that both tax collectors and Pharisees can be saved by Jesus. We can be redeemed, whether our problem is some kind of venal or gross sin, or some kind of finger-pointing or self-righteousness. In the words of Barbara Crafton, “Our question is not Will God forgive me? It is, rather, Will I humbly accept the grace God offers me at this very moment to help me change?” 1 We all have our place at the altar rail and in fellowship with one another. The wonder is that both Saint Matthew and Saint Paul were transformed by Jesus. Both Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany felt the healing power of the Lord. Both Peter and Thomas experienced his mercy.
Let that same wonder happen here, in our own beloved parish church, in the midst of this great city. Bring on the tax collectors and the Pharisees together, and let them be blessed by the Body and Blood of Christ. Let there be joy in the house, and among God’s angels, over the repentance that characterizes the family.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
