"Steps of a Disciple: Humble Strength"
Luke 18: 9-14; 2 Timothy 4: 6-18
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
October 23, 2016
‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “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.”
But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’ - Luke 18: 9-14
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful in my ministry. I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds. You also must beware of him, for he strongly opposed our message.
At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. - 2 Timothy 4: 6-18
Jesus met people where they were in the ordinary spaces of life. As Jesus was walking towards the costly grace that awaited him in Jerusalem, Jesus read the human landscape around him. Jesus knew what was in everyone’s heart (John 2:25), all that is good and faithful and our contradictions too. So Jesus offers a parable of two men which points to the truth about God even as he points to the truth about the human heart.
On this side of the cross we give the Pharisees a bad reputation but in Jesus’ time they were considered faithful interpreters of God’s Law. Their role was to guide the people in God’s ways. And they set ritual boundaries to maintain their religious purity. Pharisees were seen in the temple on a regular basis in regards to their role in society.
The tax collector, on the other hand, was considered at odds with God’s Law. Jewish tradition forbade this occupation. Collecting taxes was perceived to be dishonest and impure. Tax collectors were rarely seen in the temple as they were considered outcasts in Jewish culture.
What is so surprising about Jesus’ parable is the prayer which these two men utter in the temple. In the first century mouths would have gaped to hear the Pharisee utter a prayer up to God in self-righteousness. Chins would have hit the floor to hear the tax collector, standing along the temple margins, utter a prayer in dismay for God’s mercy and forgiveness and then to actually receive it.[1]
Jesus not only reveals the contradictions within each of the men and in society, but he reveals God is moved by a heart that recognizes one’s need for God. You see, God is not moved by prideful attitudes of how closely we walk the narrow and straight path, or how many check marks we have on the ‘How to be Faithful’ list. Boasting of our faithfulness denies God’s work within us. God is always the One to take the first step in our lives.
If we exalt ourselves with our works and we devalue others with an attitude of contempt then we have missed the mark of being a student of Scripture, of being a follower of God, of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. We have missed the mark because we have failed to look inward and consider what is common to every human being: no matter what our pasts or present holds, we have all fallen short of God’s glory.
Neil White had a comfortable life in Oxford, Mississippi. He was a family man with a wife and two young children. He was a generous giver to his church. He was a journalist and a successful magazine publisher. In 1993 he was charged with a federal crime of bank fraud. Neil was thirty-three years old. He had transferred $750,000 of checks from one bank account to another to keep his business afloat. Neil was sentenced to serve eighteen months in a minimum security prison in Carville, Louisiana.
The prison was twenty miles south of Baton Rouge and had formerly been a federal medical facility for over one hundred years for patients with Hansen’s disease, otherwise known as leprosy. In 1993 this federal prison was nested in the medical center which still held 130 beds in use for these patients who had become outcasts losing their families, homes, and any dignity or quality of life.
Neil’s eighteen month sentence at Carville was a defining moment; so much so that he wrote his memoir entitled, “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts.” When he arrived at Carville he made some quick judgments about the patients with leprosy. He recalled, “[He] didn’t want to breathe the air, or accidentally brush up against one of them, or get close enough that the infection could reach out, take hold in [his] body, and turn [him] into a horror.”[2]
The patients and prison inmates crossed paths in designated areas of the facility. One day Neil met Ella. She was an older African American woman in a wheel chair. Ella had been quarantined at Carville since elementary school. She had lost her legs as a result of leprosy. As Neil listened to Ella’s words more than his inner judgement, he began to see a woman who was kind and had a gentle spirit. The more Neil talked with Ella the more he forgot about her disease. Their conversations began to shift Neil’s perceptions. Living as an outcast in solidarity “with the victims of leprosy” truly became a sanctuary of mercy, change, and hope.[3]
As time passed, Neil talked with a number of the patients and inmates. The journalist within him set out to listen to their life stories as he began to process his own. Neil’s biggest questions were considering how those eighteen months should change him and how he could return home to face all the people he had wronged. He had lost everything – his marriage, his children, his job, his reputation. Prior to his arrest Neil had always been a man who sought to be praised for his accomplishments and pride had gotten the best of him.
One day Neil asked Ella, “Ella, how do people change?”
She replied, “Hard to do. Hard to do.” Ella hesitated.
Neil tried to prod her asking her what she was thinking.
“Keep meddlin,” Ella said.
Neil responded, “I don’t want to interview anyone else.”
“Maybe you been asking the wrong folks,” Ella replied.
Neil recalled he had talked with Father Reynolds, Reverend Ray, Sister Margie, every interesting inmate and dozens of leper patients. Ella had thought of someone else who could offer insight. So Neil asked who that would be.
Ella leaned forward and in her soft voice said, “Your own self.”[4]
As disciples of Jesus Christ, God calls us to look inside ourselves and consider the contradictions between our faithfulness and waywardness. Inner reflection is faith’s motivation towards change for God desires truth in our inward being (Psalm 51:6). Our confessions are always individual and communal, two sides of one coin.
What are the contradictions between faithfulness and dismay that you see within yourself and more broadly? The text asks us to consider this question. I have been pondering that question for myself. As a broken human being, a woman, a mother, and a pastor I feel the gravity of Jesus’ parable in light of this political season. I know I am not the only one dismayed.
I am dismayed as I wrestle with my own judgments. I am dismayed with the self-righteous rhetoric that has completely devalued women, minorities, interfaith groups, and the social graces of democracy. I am dismayed with the self-righteous rhetoric that has carelessly named groups of people as deplorable. I am dismayed with the ways we as a nation are quick to dehumanize any candidate. I am dismayed when we judge and label one another for the diverse lenses of faith that we interpret political issues through. We do all need to make decisions regarding who to vote for and why. But we must also decide how to model and teach our children and the younger generations the virtues of disagreement with regards to respect and dignity.
Every institution in our world, country, community and even the Church is tainted by sin. While our elections of national, state, and local leaders are important, there is no one perfect political party or candidate which will be the savior for all our problems. At the end of the day every candidate is a child of God. They are men and women who are broken and who need God’s mercy just like the Pharisee and tax collector did; just like you and I do.
It is worth repeating that God is still sovereign and Jesus Christ is still the only Savior we need. But Jesus was the only one worthy to speak of his righteousness, yet he never would boast of his perfect obedience to God. “Though he was in the form of God, [Christ] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself - made himself of no value like an outcast, taking the form of a slave, being born of human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by fully recognizing his reliance upon God and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8).
Even Christ recognized his need for God’s mercy therefore we are to let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). As disciples we are called to follow Christ’s example. At the end of the day there is only one thing that matters. And that one thing is to recognize our common need for God’s mercy in our lives. It is the core truth of what it means to walk as a disciple. The path of faith is designed to take each step fully depending upon God.
God’s mercy was on the loose in the temple, it is on the loose for those who feel like Pharisees, tax collectors, and outcasts, and it is on the loose even in our lives today. God’s mercy proclaims that nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ. God’s mercy finds us and redeems us when we are honest with ourselves and the world around us. Mercy triumphs over judgment. But it takes faithfulness to be honest and faithfulness is not about perfection; it never has been.
Faithfulness is having the courage to daily interview ourselves about what needs to change within our hearts while claiming our need for God’s mercy to re-write our stories again and again. Faithfulness is meeting our sisters and brothers on the intersections of life and seeing our common brokenness through the lenses of mercy and grace. That kind of faithfulness is what humble strength looks like.
May we go out empowered to take the next steps as a disciple and never settle for less than that.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
Art image, "Jesus in Gethsemane," by He Qi
[1] Alyce Mckenzie, “Parables for Today” (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007), p. 57-58.
[2] Neil White, “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” (New York: Harper Collins, 2009), p. 19.
[3] Neil White, p. 78.
[4] Neil White, pp. 190-191.
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