The parable of the righteous man is a set-up. And we can’t help falling for it. Because we don’t know what to do with his being wrong.
God’s love isn’t a competitive sport. We’re all on the same team.
Proper 25C
Luke 18:9-14
This is a simple parable. A juxtaposition. How two people are different. Its internal logic is obvious. We’re to compare them.
Two people. One follows the rules and the other doesn’t. One is righteous and the other sins.
However, the simplicity of this parable is deceiving. We know Jesus is going to flip the script. So we adjust. By flipping the logic. Or ignoring the logic.
But it’s all a set-up. He uses a juxtaposition to condemn the process of judgment. Here’s why.
Questioning the Process
If we go back to the faith Jesus inherited, we can see the tradition was focused on righteousness. You tried to protect your purity and avoid sin. You followed the rules because that’s how you knew you were going to be OK.
So when God said don’t work on the Sabbath you didn’t. But that alone couldn’t settle it. Because you didn’t necessarily know what that meant exactly. So we need to get more specific than “don’t work”. Can you buy groceries or not? You can use the refrigerator, but not the oven. We had to figure out what counts as work so we can obey God.
And then Jesus comes along and questions that process in two ways.
1. Is this really what God wants?
Good question, right? Does God really care if we use the oven? Clearly most of us don’t think so. Because we all break Sabbath law all the time.
But you and I aren’t asking what God wants when we argue over the Law. We’re arguing over whether or not it is sinful to break our tradition. Our focus here is on the law itself, rather than God. In a real sense, our adhering to these practices isn’t about what God wants at all!
This is why Jesus is able to justify his breaking Sabbath law. Because when he does, he is actually obeying God’s command to love and restore.
So this act, which seems kind of destructive is actually centering on God’s purpose. And it reveals how far the rules have gone away from God.
In other words, if these were characters in Dungeons and Dragons, one is lawful evil and the other is chaotic good. And the thing God cares most about is whether or not we’re good.
2. How does judging your neighbor draw you closer to God?
When Jesus teaches the disciples, he doesn’t create a list of hundreds of rules to follow. Nor does he say to them test each other to determine who is best. There’s no rulebook and there’s no firing people for not making the cut.
In fact, his followers are constantly comparing themselves and Jesus condemns that. And several times they find people doing good but not following Jesus, so they try to shut them down. And Jesus rebukes them.
The point isn’t to make a comparison or to follow rules. The point is to know and love God. Rules must enable that. But they must never get in the way of it.
The Set-Up
All this has been covered over and over for the last 17 chapters of Luke. So when we get here, we shouldn’t be surprised when Jesus sets us up. We know that for Jesus, following the rules isn’t enough.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t fall for it. It’s a good set up.
We plug right into it. Two people. Compare and contrast. One must be good and the other must be bad. All the indicators make the first one sound like the good one. He does all the stuff. He’s in church every week. And tithes! He buys cookies and popcorn from scouts. I’m sure he slows down to avoid squirrels in the road. By every measuring stick — he’s the good guy.
The other’s a sinner. He’s a tax-collector, so you know he skims off the top. Probably more than the next guy. He litters too. Who knows what kind of drugs he’s on. Probably didn’t even grow up in the church! Doesn’t even know the Lord’s Prayer from memory! Oh my gosh! What is the world coming to?
So then Jesus flips it.
And before Jesus can even finish speaking, we’re declaring the first guy is bad and the second is really “the good one.”
Or, if we’re really, really righteous, we’ll say God loves them both! How can we judge? Because we’ve read all about what God wants and we are just so certain that we know that the best behavior in the 21st Century is to judge no one and if you do, we should judge you because all judging is equal.
And we have all just fallen for the set-up.
Difference
The difference between the two is not that they contrast (even if they do). The difference is that the righteous man defines his own righteousness by comparing himself to others. And the second man is justified by God. God decides that the second is justified.
The first is focused on himself and therefore condemns others. He thinks he can do it all on his own.
The other (because he judges himself) seeks mercy from God. He knows he can’t do it all on his own.
A little context
Before we draw our conclusions, however, let’s put this parable in context.
Jesus is still talking about discipleship. Which is a fancy way of saying “being a student.” And specifically, a student of Jesus’s way of love. A rule of life which organizes and orders our sense of the world.
So as much as Jesus is praising this chaotic good tax collector in this morning’s parable, he isn’t against all rules. He’s for rules which turn our faces toward God. Rules which guide our hearts away from judgment and toward mercy.
A couple of chapters back, Jesus challenged the Pharisees on their judging and taught the crowds about mercy. And it all sounded so hard, so the disciples asked Jesus to give them more faith. But Jesus said essentially if you have any you have enough.
Jesus restores the outcasts and then warns the disciples that trouble lies ahead. Keep the faith in the midst of adversity. The Kin-dom is here, even if we can’t see it. That’s why he told them to keep the faith and never lose heart last week. With a callback to chapter 11, he says to keep fighting for justice. Shame the unjust if you must.
That’s why we get so conflicted. Why we fall for the set-up, even when we know it’s a set-up. Because we still want our faith to be ours. We want ourselves to be deemed righteous. To possess the certainty that we are right. And, therefore, they (all of the theys) are wrong. But that’s not the equation.
Jesus calls us to follow a way of love.
Turn — away from judgment and toward Jesus.
Learn — keep listening and learning and becoming.
Pray — offer ourselves and our love out to others.
Worship — fall down and lift up all that we are to God.
Bless — give peace to the world.
Go — out into the world to be a blessing.
Rest — to laugh and play and restore our whole selves for all that lies ahead.
This isn’t a contrast or an evaluation. We aren’t auditioning for an orchestra or striving for the best grade. There’s no grading curve — the Kin-dom of God is not a meritocracy! There is no best in the kin-dom.
Get rid of that junk. It’s a distraction. It just gets in the way.
It’s about love! And mercy! And joy! Celebrations and forgiveness!
Jesus is showing us a way to be good in a world that rewards evil. How the point is to follow God. Even when our sense of righteousness leads us to condemn our friends. But it is our loving God which leads us to love each other.
And that’s how we become righteous. Not needing to be and yet still throwing ourselves into love anyway.
We love God so we can love like God. Here and now in this neighborhood. No worth. No merit. Love. And keep loving. Now and forever.