Righteous or Self-Righteous?

Righteous or Self-Righteous?

Rev. Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
11th Sunday after Trinity, 2011

Sept. 4, 2011

Today’s Gospel focuses one of great problems that “good” people often face: the self-awareness of their own goodness. Sometimes, when we have been living in covenant, doing what we should, and perhaps receiving blessings from God, we may be in serious spiritual danger. That is, when we are striving to be righteous, striving to be “good” in the eyes of God, that very activity may be dangerous to us if we take knowledge of it. The reason may be that self-conscious righteous activity can lead to pride, and we know our Adversary below is always more than ready to exploit any advantage, especially one where spiritual pride is involved.

An apt analogy may be when one meets the truly physically beautiful, charming, or intelligent person who is not really aware of their great attributes. Sometimes, they do not regard them and may even disparage themselves, being humble. Contrast this with the great majority of celebrities, particularly those on the stage or in the movies, who are so self-aware of the “great I” they have become that they are totally self-absorbed or who are in a state of complete egoism. What a difference there is!

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord draws a perfect contrast “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” by drawing a wonderful word picture of a Pharisee and a Publican. The Pharisees were often the objects of Christ’s scorn and usually were the example of what “not” to be, with the notable examples of Nicodemus and certain others, unnamed, who secretly believed in our Christ. Yet, in fairness, we must recall the origin of the Pharisees. These men arose to defend Judah and Israel from the gross idolatry that had brought so much suffering. Remember how the Jews fell into such a state of “mixed” belief that even their pagan statues populated the very Temple itself. Refer to Ezekiel 8:8-12 for that and recall how that Ezekiel was commanded to dig in the Temple wall. He did as commanded, found a door and went it.
There he saw all sorts of abominable pagan idols, as well as seventy members of the oldest families of Israel offering incense to pagan Gods! Recall how God, in His longsuffering and mercy, sent prophet after prophet to call His People back into repentance, yet they would not. After literally hundreds of years of warning, God finally executed judgment on Judah, when Nebuchadnezzar’s armies came up against Jerusalem. Even in this last state, Jeremiah warned the people to submit to the yoke of Babylon and live, even if it meant a state of servitude. Had Judah done this, even Nebuchadnezzar would have turned his fierce wrath and accepted their repentance. Instead, the Jews under Zedekiah refused, even trying to flee the siege of Jerusalem through a break in the city wall. This failed, and Zedekiah saw his sons slain before his very eyes. He was blinded and taken to Babylon as one of many captive kings. The Babylonians proceeded to destroy Jerusalem, including the fabulous Temple of Solomon, which was considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was a sad story of the apostasy of the ancient Jews and its results.

Much later, under the reign of Artaxerxes the Persian and then Darius the Mede, Jerusalem’s wall and Temple would be rebuilt, as related in the books of Nehemiah and Ezra. Although it was indeed glorious to have the Temple in Jerusalem again, it was nowhere near the grandeur of the former temple, nor could it have been. Later, Jerusalem would be savaged again by the Greeks, until Judas Maccabeus and his sons led a successful revolt against the Hellenization of Judah. It was during this period that the Pharisees arose, men so zealous for the Law and for the purity of Jewish belief. Their calling was to safeguard Jewish society from the evils of heterodoxy, so that the suffering brought on by idolatry could never happen again.

It was a worthy goal. Yet, like all things human, when they lack the guiding Spirit of God, Phariseeism became twisted and self-centered. They Jews sought righteousness through their own deeds and their interpretation of the Law, thus they thought, ensuring, even requiring God’s favor towards the nation of Israel. Their religion became show without substance, mere mechanistic practice without faith or belief. Hypocrisy and outward show became the norm, to a large extent.

That brings us to the Gospel selection for the day. Christ clearly draws a contrast between the self-righteous Pharisee and the humble, penitent publican. Thus, Our Lord draws a fascinating parallel illustrating appearances versus reality. We see the Pharisee, dressed in his long robe, no doubt with dangling phylacteries and all, standing and praying to himself. Some commentators have observed that this “prayer” is not really a prayer at all, but rather an “address” to God The Pharisee proceeds to list his righteous acts and behavior before God, rehearsing them, if you will, almost to demand God’s favor and justification. He gives tithes of all that he possesses, he fasts twice weekly; he is, by all accounts a righteous man. There is a problem, however; he knows it; he accepts it consciously. While he does do good deeds, actions worthy of praise, his attitude of self-righteousness serves to “poison the well”, so to speak. Thus, he brandishes his righteousness before man and God, fully confident that he is seen as such before both.

Then, Our Lord tells us of the publican. As we have discussed before, here is a man who was universally despised as both a tool of the Roman occupiers and as an extortioner. Recall that publicans, or tax collectors, were self-employed contractors, Jews, employed the Roman state to levy and collect Roman taxes. They were on a percentage compensation basis, meaning that any amount that they able to collect above their quota was theirs. Was it any wonder they usually asked for and received more than what was due? Was it any wonder that they were hated, not only as symbols and tools of the Roman occupation, but also for taking advantage of their position to extort as much money from the captive nation? No one likes to pay taxes, but to pay more than one owes is especially bad. Thus publicans were corrupt collaborators with the Roman occupiers and were roundly hated for it.

This may be why another Publican, ”short of stature” Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:8, said that he would restore four-fold to anyone from whom he had over-collected when Christ told him that He must stay with him that day. This act of repentance on Zacchaeus’ part prompted this wonderful statement from Jesus in Luke 19:9-10 “And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Thus, Christ, the great Teacher uses the seemingly incongruous example of the publican to great effect as we see the publican’s behavior in the temple from today’s Gospel. He stood “afar off”, not even daring to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he looked down and “smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.” The contrast between him and the Pharisee couldn’t be clearer.

The point of the parable comes through very clearly when Christ says: (Luke 18:14) “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." We know this by conventional wisdom, in sayings such as “Pride goeth before a fall”. This adage is taken from Proverbs 16:18-19: ”Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”

According to Christ’s words, the humble publican was justified before God, while the Pharisee was rejected. His supposed righteousness meant nothing, while the penitent publican, despised by men, was favored by God. Of course, there is a great lesson in this for us. We Anglicans, with our beautiful music and liturgy, our excellent lectionary and our wonderful Book of Common Prayer, may be liable to fall into such a spiritual trap, if we are not vigilant. When one has so much goodness, the temptation may arise to look down on those of other traditions.
We in the clergy also must also guard against spiritual pride as well, precisely because we have been so blessed with the Apostolic Succession and the historic episcopate.

Anglicans do have a lot of advantages; unfortunately, sometimes we may be a bit too aware of them, rather than accepting these blessings from God in an humble and contrite spirit, like the publican.

Anglicans in general have always had a rationalistic bent, that is, we celebrate the mind as a means to worship God, as well as the emotions and the working of the Spirit. Yet, this same celebration of the intellect can very easily lead to pride and all its incumbent evils. The end result may be a conviction that God’s Will for us is an “evolving” process, rather than what has been revealed to us in His Word and the traditions of the Church. As the Bishops of GAFCON have stated, this has led many in the Anglican Communion to proclaim “another Gospel”, one clearly at odds with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This “new Gospel” is one in which many aberrations of Christian behavior are embraced and are seen as merely a “lifestyle choice.” Thank God for those good and worthy bishops who are calling the Anglican Communion back to contrition and repentance!

The lesson to us is plain: we rely, not on our own righteousness, but that of Jesus Christ. As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

When we, like the Pharisee, depend on our own works for justification, or feel pride in our goodness, or indulge in self-righteousness, we run the risk of being rejected by God. Yet, when like the publican, we approach God in a lowly and humble spirit, relying only on the merits of Jesus Christ, we will have eternal justification and redemption.

For this, we say: Thanks be to God!

Luke 18:14 4 "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.