Medicine for a troubled conscience

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Do you have anything on your conscience today? It may be something that seems quite trivial (I say “seems”, not necessarily “is”) – you snapped at someone perhaps, or over-indulged yourself somehow last night.

Or it could be something more obviously serious – perhaps a painful memory of something done long ago, a memory that just refuses to fade away.

Whatever, we all know that feeling of guilt and shame, that sense of not just having let ourselves down but, far worse, of having hurt somebody and of grieving God by knowingly doing something wrong.

The beautiful little story Jesus tells in this passage is perfect medicine for a hurting conscience.

The Pharisee – that is, the proud, self-righteous, religious person – prays a prayer all about himself. He informs God (as if God needs informing!) what a fine person he is. He turns a superior, condemning eye on the tax-collector standing near him in the temple and thanks God that “I’m not like him”. If you met this man in the street you might be a little in awe of him; he is what used to be called “a pillar of society”.

But he is full of himself. (Are any of us like that?)

The tax-collector on the other hand may well have lived a pretty shady life (Jewish tax-collectors working for the Romans did not have a good reputation, to say the least). And he knows it. So when he comes into the temple to pray he really hasn’t got any fine words to use. The best he can manage – along with beating his breast with remorse – is “God, have mercy upon me, a sinner”. End of prayer. (Sometimes, note, the shortest prayers are the best.)

And guess what happened? Well, let Jesus tell us in his own words: “… this man went home justified before God”.

“Justified”? That means to be “declared in the right” - acquitted; discharged from the court; a free person. I picture that man leaving the temple a few minutes later: look! - he has a light step, a straight back, and his head is held high. This wasn’t because he had done anything good. No, all he had done was admit his own wretchedness and throw himself humbly on the mercy of God. But his confession cut more ice with God than all the fine deeds of the Pharisee. I wonder what his wife thought when he came in the door and she saw his glowing face? “What’s been happening to you…?”

We mustn’t tar everyone with the same brush; in this story Jesus isn’t simply having a go at the Pharisees, even though he had many debates and disputes with them. No; there were good, humble Pharisees as well as the kind depicted here – think, for example of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

No, the Pharisee in the story stands simply for a certain type of mentality, and you can find it, sadly, wherever Christianity is to be found - among Anglicans and Charismatics, Methodists and Baptists, Roman Catholics and Orthodox. Why, you might even find it if you look deep enough into your own soul.

The point Jesus wants to make is clear; there is nothing God loves more than to forgive someone who is truly sorry for what they have done and the people they have become. In fact, Jesus tells us (twice, just to make sure we get the message!) a couple of chapters earlier that “there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to” (Luke 15:7,10).

Why does God choose to forgive us in this way? Because he loves us, that’s why! It really is as simple as that.

Did you know that God loves you, even in spite of all that is bad about you? You might answer, Of course I do! I’ve known it pretty much since I was a child! I hear it pretty well every Sunday in church.

All right… let me put the question another way. Have you taken this great truth to heart? Have you “taken it on board”, as they say? Have you ever sat down in a quiet and serious moment and said to yourself “God loves me? God is waiting to forgive me?”

No? Well why not today? Why not right now?

Thank you, oh God, that you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross and pay the price for my sins. Help me to receive your forgiveness today, to rejoice in it, and to live, from this day on, the joyful life of a sinner washed clean as snow. Amen.