William H. Willimon - "The Good" (October 29, 1989)

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	I	0:17
	confess	0:18
	that I hold my breath when	0:18
	I check out	0:24
	what the assigned Scripture is on a coming	0:25
	Sunday from the ccumenical lectionary, particularly	0:31
	when I'm preparing for parents' weekend. Because, look,	0:35
	I- I realize that	0:40
	your high tuition pays my salary, and	0:42
	so naturally I want to make a good impression on visiting parents and, by	0:46
	the way, let me take this opportunity to thank all of	0:51
	your parents for your tuitions	0:56
	payments. Because I know that without you, not	0:59
	only your Duke daughter or son but this Methodist preacher would probably not	1:03
	be here. At any rate, I want to look good for visiting parents and	1:08
	to convince you	1:13
	that the spiritual care of your son	1:14
	or daughter is in good hands and I believe in making a good impression	1:18
	on	1:23
	visitors. And yet I also believe in preaching from the Bible and	1:24
	therein lies my Twenty-fourth Sunday	1:30
	after Pentecost Parents'-Weekend dilemma.	1:35
	Because today's Gospel is not a parentally approved text -	1:40
	Jesus' story of the Pharisee and the Publican. Let	1:46
	me read it to you in English. "He	1:50
	also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that	1:54
	they were	1:58
	righteous and they despised others. 'Two men went up to the	1:59
	temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.	2:04
	The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. 'God.	2:09
	I think we that I am not like other people - extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or	2:14
	even this	2:19
	tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes	2:24
	of all that I get.'	2:28
	But the tax collector, standing far off, would not	2:31
	even lift up his eyes to heaven.	2:36
	He beat on his breasts saying, 'God, be merciful to	2:39
	me a sinner.' 'I tell you	2:43
	this man went down to his house justified, rather than the	2:47
	other. For every one who exults himself will	2:52
	be humbled, but he humbles	2:56
	himself will be exalted."	2:59
	Now	3:06
	to get into this story, first, let's get out of the way any	3:07
	notion	3:12
	that this Pharisee and Publican story of Jesus is	3:14
	a story about the virtue of humility. As	3:19
	Robert Capon says, it's not a parable about	3:23
	the virtue of humility. Rather it is a parable	3:28
	about religious futility.	3:32
	It is not a story about how we are to adapt a humble religious stance, as	3:35
	opposed to a proud one, but rather it is an exhortation to let go of	3:41
	all religious posturing.	3:47
	And	3:51
	so, to get into this story, I want you to give all the credit that you possibly	3:51
	can to this Pharisee. Now I know the Pharisees get a bad press in	3:56
	the Gospels,	4:01
	but I want to, you to just put out of your mind this morning any	4:02
	unattractive things you have ever heard about Pharisees because	4:08
	Jesus points out that here we have a good Pharisee,	4:12
	a really good man.	4:16
	Here is a man who never cheated on his church or	4:19
	his wife, he never raised his voice to his kids, he's never sold timesharing	4:23
	condominiums in Charlotte, he did his time as president on	4:29
	the PTA without grumbling, he does work with Habitat for Humanity on	4:34
	the weekends, and even though he won the Congressional Medal	4:38
	of Honor in the big war, he told President Bush to ease up on aid to	4:41
	the Contras - here is a good man, not	4:46
	like that tax collector. This	4:54
	tax collector	4:58
	who has collaborated with the Roman occupation forces to oppress his very	4:59
	own people.	5:04
	How do you think he,	5:07
	he bought that stretch limo?	5:09
	And why he's able to spend winters in	5:11
	Palm Beach and summers in	5:15
	Newport? Why he only drinks the best Scotch? Bought	5:18
	with	5:21
	money that he has squeezed out of the meager earnings of widows and orphans.	5:22
	The publican, the tax collector, is a	5:28
	bad man. Not	5:33
	only is this Pharisee	5:37
	good, but the really attractive thing about him is that he thanks God	5:40
	for his goodness.	5:44
	He refuses to take any personal credit for his high moral tone as	5:46
	if this were somehow his personal achievement.	5:51
	Earlier that week, when he was tutoring some inner city kids in math as he does every week, he	5:54
	slipped up and said something like "Boys, I'm glad to say that I have never in	5:59
	my whole life stolen anything from anybody."	6:04
	Well, on the way home, he got to thinking bad about that remark as if it somehow implied	6:07
	that his goodness were of his own creation. And so he's at the chapel this morning	6:12
	to	6:17
	make clear to God	6:18
	that if he is good, it is because God has made him that way. "God,	6:21
	I thank thee.	6:27
	God I thank thee that, that I'm not like other people." Here is a good	6:30
	prayer from a very good man.	6:36
	And what does Jesus tell you about this good - good - good, very	6:40
	good man.	6:45
	He tells you that he was worse off when he came to	6:48
	church than that sleazy good-for-nothing tax	6:54
	collector who just waltzes in to the chapel, and he doesn't sing the hymns because he doesn't	6:58
	know the words.	7:02
	And when it comes time to prayer he can only get out a few halting, mumbling phrases "God,"	7:04
	or "I mean, like God, uh, uh,	7:10
	be merciful, uh, like to me, a	7:15
	sinner. Amen."	7:18
	And Jesus tells you that this sleazy tax collector, staring down at the tips of his	7:23
	eelskins, and mumbling,	7:28
	was justified by	7:32
	God, but not our Citizen of the Year	7:36
	Pharisee.	7:40
	I'm sorry that your mother had to hear this, because I know full well that she	7:43
	has told you otherwise.	7:48
	But here it is in the Bible. Just because	7:52
	you happen to be good at being good or	7:57
	good at religion,	8:02
	even if you were a good little girl or	8:04
	boy, that when it comes down to your basic relationship	8:07
	with	8:11
	God, all that is really quite irrelevant, even	8:12
	sometimes, surprise, detrimental. As far	8:16
	as God is	8:21
	concerned, both the Pharisee and the Publican	8:22
	are losers.	8:28
	But we say, wait a minute, isn't Jesus at least trying to make a little	8:31
	distinction between these two people. Isn't	8:36
	this proud Pharisee, okay, we know we're all sinners, but isn't this	8:40
	proud Pharisee, somehow, a little bigger sinner than this	8:44
	humble Publican?	8:50
	You see, you're making the same mistake that the Pharisee made, assuming	8:53
	that there is	8:59
	something within the behavior of this tax	9:01
	collector, maybe his humility or his penitence, that	9:06
	somehow weasels him in on God's good	9:11
	graces, it somehow earns him God's	9:17
	love. But you can forget it,	9:21
	because, look, we're talking God here - pure love, complete truth, utter honesty, pure	9:23
	righteousness - God. We're not talking sorority rush, we're	9:30
	talking eternal life here and no human goodness, even the, even	9:35
	of the very good Pharisee variety	9:40
	is good	9:45
	enough for God's	9:46
	goodness.	9:49
	So here we come Sunday morning, trudging up to God, like at Pharisee, dragging	9:51
	along behind us in our Sunday school attendance pins and our confirmation certificate and	9:58
	our record of giving to the United Way, only	10:03
	to find out that God really	10:05
	isn't impressed with all that stuff. "	10:07
	Cool it," says God. Look, save all that baggage for	10:11
	your application to law school.	10:14
	We're talking justification	10:18
	here. We're, we're talking the right to stand face to face, toe-to-toe	10:21
	with God almighty, not nomination to Alpha Phi	10:24
	Omega. The Pharisee is	10:28
	condemned because he's trying to slip through that narrow needle's eye	10:35
	that Jesus spoke of.	10:37
	Slipping	10:41
	in the needle's eye into God's kingdom while still clutching, clutching all	10:44
	that works and righteousness baggage.	10:44
	Whereas the tax collector gets welcomed because he's	10:50
	not holding on to anything. He's got nothing to hold onto,	10:54
	his hands are empty. He's got nothing,	10:59
	and what is more, he knows he's got nothing.	11:04
	He is a complete	11:09
	moral, social, religious loser, a dead	11:12
	duck, so far as his relationship to God is concerned.	11:14
	But fortunately, we know from a lot of other stories, here is a savior who	11:19
	just loves to raise the dead and just lives to	11:24
	seek and to save the lost and likes nothing better than to party	11:29
	with sinners.	11:33
	Now,	11:38
	let's be honest here. At this point, you may be thinking to yourself, what	11:43
	a fool this Pharise is for thinking that somehow he can get	11:43
	in with good with God through his good works.	11:48
	But	11:53
	don't be so quick to judge. Even now, I would bet you that	11:59
	even now, in the back of our minds we are anxiously rearranging ourselves in	11:59
	ways that are shockingly similar to that Pharisee.	12:04
	Come on now, isn't somebody out there thinking God, I thank	12:10
	thee that, well I'm not the best person in the world, I'm	12:14
	certainly better than that self-righteous bible-beating, priggish, literalist	12:19
	religious fanatic Pharisee.	12:24
	I don't make a big show out of my religion!	12:32
	You	12:34
	see, see? It's just, it's right back down the ole works-righteousnesss path we go.	12:38
	This time we're carrying different baggage, but we're still carrying	12:39
	baggage. And if you don't believe me, Robert	12:45
	Capon suggested we try this little experiment. Try this.	12:50
	Let's say that Jesus' parable does not end with just the two people going	12:56
	back home after Sunday morning justified. One of them	13:01
	justified, and one not. Let's say the story goes on. Now, okay, the	13:06
	the tax collector has gone back home and he's made right with God and, okay, the	13:10
	fellow's been forgiven. He's been accepted by loving infinitely	13:16
	forgiving and gracious God. Okay, now let's say	13:22
	it's next Friday night, and you're on your way with a family and you're	13:27
	driving through a seedy section	13:32
	of town and you happen to see coming out of the Kit Kat Club, peroxided	13:37
	blonde on each arm, ten dollar cigar in his mouth, getting into	13:38
	his pale pink limo.	13:44
	Now	13:48
	do you find this a little shocking, after all that grace and forgiveness that	13:53
	was given out on Sunday morning by	13:53
	God?	13:58
	But let me tell you, your shock at seeing him on Friday night is nothing	14:01
	compared to the shock you feel on the coming Sunday morning.	14:03
	Say you've settled into your seat here in the	14:08
	chapel and, it's, the service has begun and it's the	14:13
	opening prayer of	14:16
	confession and you're praying and suddenly you hear someone mumbling over to the	14:20
	side, it catches your attention and right there, down front, in front	14:22
	of the cameras, the blondes and the cigar gone but you can still tell, it's him, mumbling	14:27
	of the cameras, the blondes and the cigar gone but you can still tell, it's him, mumbling	14:31
	out once again, "God, have mercy on me, a	14:38
	sinner". And this is too much.	14:43
	Okay, grace is amazing but, I mean, aren't there limits?	14:44
	Okay, grace is amazing but, I mean, aren't there limits?	14:49
	And	14:56
	And	15:03
	what about God in all this?	15:03
	At the end of the service, when the benediction is done and	15:07
	there is God sending this guy back down to his house, forgiven, made righteous,	15:10
	there is God sending this guy back down to his house, forgiven, made righteous,	15:14
	If the tax collector isn't going to change his ways, just a little, can't we expect God to	15:20
	If the tax collector isn't going to change his ways, just a little, can't we expect God to	15:23
	ways, just a little?	15:28
	ways, just a little?	15:29
	We	15:35
	gag at the injustice of the story. This little rat is getting	15:35
	But,	15:40
	but, what, what do we want? Now, what -what do we	15:45
	but, what, what do we want? Now, what -what do we	15:45
	the tax collector should again show up at church, but this time driving a	15:52
	Toyota and drinking cheaper scotch and giving the difference to Bread for the World?	15:57
	Toyota and drinking cheaper scotch and giving the difference to Bread for the World?	16:02
	Do	16:08
	we really think that if God gagged on that decidedly long list	16:08
	of good deeds of the Pharisee that God is going to somehow be more	16:13
	impressed by this short List of this allegedly better tax collector?	16:18
	No. What	16:29
	do we	16:29
	want?	16:31
	Do we want to mess up Jesus' perfectly outrageous	16:32
	story by sending the tax collector back to church next week	16:36
	Yeah, that's what I want!	16:41
	We	16:46
	We	16:50
	spend our lives before the mirror of other people's opinions of	16:51
	us, hoping that we can order our little lives in such a way, that	16:55
	somehow our points will measure up in their eyes, that they will total	17:00
	We just hate to stand naked before the gaze of God. We just hate to come	17:04
	We just hate to stand naked before the gaze of God. We just hate to come	17:10
	before God's altar empty handed with	17:15
	its consequence.	17:18
	That	17:24
	God must take us, losers that we	17:28
	God must take us, losers that we	17:29
	are, or we're not going to be taken at all.	17:36
	God's grace is a shock. That's why we	17:42
	grumble at the party that the old man threw for the returning	17:48
	prodigal	17:51
	son. "is this any way to run a	17:52
	family?"	17:54
	And we murmured mightily when the Lord of the harvest paid those people who showed up at the	17:56
	And	18:01
	And	18:07
	then later when he went off arm in arm to another tax collector's house, this	18:08
	stood in the crowd and said, "he's gone to have lunch at the home of a	18:12
	man who is a sinner!"	18:15
	man who is a sinner!"	18:20
	But	18:24
	who do we expect to have for	18:24
	Jesus to have lunch	18:26
	with? Sinners,	18:30
	be they of the good Pharisee variety or of the bad Publican	18:33
	variety -	18:39
	sinners, losers.	18:43
	We just hate to see ourselves as losers who need	18:47
	God to love us, to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.	18:52
	Now my earlier point was that some of you think I have it easy here just cause I only work one	19:00
	day a week.	19:05
	But	19:09
	you think it's easy to preach this parable	19:09
	here? I mean, parents, let's face it.	19:13
	Your kids are here because they're good.	19:19
	Lots	19:24
	of other parents have raised Publicans rather	19:24
	than Pharisees.	19:29
	A daughter at Duke no less, oh well, good for you! You must've been quite a parent. My, you	19:32
	must've done a very good	19:41
	job.	19:46
	And let's face it, they're good. I know they're good. Oh, there was	19:46
	a little matter about the late night call from the cops the night of her junior	19:51
	senior prom, but look, basically she's a	19:55
	good kid. Very	19:58
	good, very successful at being good and getting	20:03
	accepted and being successful. And	20:07
	yet here is a story that Jesus told about a loser who,	20:12
	while you were burning the midnight oil and hitting the books and getting into the college of your choice,	20:19
	cruised down	20:26
	the boulevard in a souped up Chevrolet and	20:26
	hid the six-pack in his gym locker and	20:31
	cheated his way through remedial math. And	20:34
	Jesus said, "God took him blessed him, justified him."	20:40
	I told you, it's an embarrassing story.	20:47

Item Info

Title:

William H. Willimon - "The Good" (October 29, 1989)

Description:

Sermon start time: (Part 1) 0:17. Sermon end time: (Part 1) 21:00.
Elaborating on the story of a Pharisee and a Tax Collector Praying at the Temple, the preacher argues that the story is not about comparing which prayer is better, but claiming that both of men are sinners who need God’s mercy equally. (Abstract created by Duke Divinity School staff.)

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r46970c0m

Date:

October 29, 1989

Speaker:

Willimon, William H.

Liturgical Calendar:

Ordinary Time

Biblical Book:

Luke

Chapter and Verse:

Luke 18:9-14

Subject:

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 CS-0458
ref8690_j80
uachapelsermaud
duke:320404
dcrau001370
ark:/87924/r46970c0m
ca51dc7e-4d92-45be-8528-9d4dfc35d24e

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings, 1954-2005

Related Resources:

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Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

This recording may contain 3rd party materials, such as music or readings that are therefore not covered by the Creative Commons license indicated here. For more information see https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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William H. Willimon - "The Good" (October 29, 1989)

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1. William H. Willimon - "The Good" (October 29, 1989)

Duke University Archives

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William H. Willimon - "The Good" (October 29, 1989)

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Duke University Archives

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