I have to admit that my initial idea for this sermon was to print out a large piece of art that you could look at and upon which you could meditate as I preached. I wanted a nice piece of art that would dramatically portray the two men praying; one with his head raised proudly and the other a little ways in the distance, looking down at the floor in shame. Now, there is plenty of art out there that shows exactly that, but since this is broadcast on the internet I did not want to violate any copyright protected art. So, I decided that I would create a piece of art quickly using one of those automatic art generating apps.
If you have not done this, all you have to do is enter in a few key words, choose an art style, and within seconds you will have a nice piece of art. “This should take less than three minutes,” I thought to myself having done this before. So, I typed in, “two men praying.” The result was actually quite beautiful, with striking orange beams of light piercing across the dark blue columns of the temple in the background, with two men in the foreground praying.
It was great, but the problem was that they were praying together. The Bible is quite clear that there was one man who reflected the bad attitude of those who were listening to Jesus’ parable: there was one man who was “righteous and regarded others with contempt.” The parable says that man was “standing by himself” while praying. This generated piece of art would not do.
That was OK, because you can put in key words all day long and generate new pieces of art all day long. Obviously, “two men praying” was not specific enough. So, I keyed in, “one proud man and one sad man praying,” trying to capture the emotional sense of separation that Jesus was going for. Like the first, the picture was striking, but it showed and two men praying together once again. Only this time one was standing while the other was sitting.
Deleting the phrase and trying again I typed, “One proud man praying separated from a sad man praying.” Unlike the realistic looking oil style paintings of the first two attempts, I had chosen a minimalist, blocky acrylic technique. The result was two men standing next to each other, facing forward and praying shoulder to shoulder. One man’s face was looking up while the other was looking down. To separate the two the artificial intelligence had placed a single, black hair thin line between the men. I was unimpressed and my trust in the power of artificially generated art was starting to wane.
I decided to take another approach. Jesus’ story says nothing about these men’s socio-economic status. In fact being a tax collector, a man who gathered money for Rome who could skim a collecting fee off of the top, the man who beat his breast in shame, probably was just as well off financially as the Pharisee, if not more so. His problem was not being poor. His problem was shame. Despite this, I was trying to get a certain look, and the key words I used to get there did not necessarily matter.
I typed in, “rich man praying separated from a poor man.” It is not what the parable is about, but I thought it might bring the result I wanted.
But again, the two men were praying together, one on the floor and the other standing holding a silver platter with a silver lid, like what you see the rich eat from in classic Hollywood movies. The guy even had a towel draped over his arm. How many rich people pray in church holding silver platters? Seriously!
I spent way too much time trying to make this work with different keywords, but the results were constantly the same: the two men were always praying together. It was as if the collective knowledge of the internet that the artificial intelligence was using to create its art could not fathom that people might choose to pray apart from one another. Or, maybe, it was God trying to drive the point home into my tiny little skull that showing an image of people praying apart is not the image that God wants burned into people’s memories. Maybe, my idea was just a bad one to begin with. Maybe, God wanted me to paint a picture for you of people praying together.
And, it was that thought right there that stopped me in my tracks. This parable is not simply about a guy who is stuck up and a guy who is full of shame. Do not get me wrong, that is there. The Bible definitely paints the Pharisee as thanking God that he is not like “thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like” that tax collector who was standing far off praying in the temple. The guy definitely thinks a lot about himself. The guy definitely, as Jesus suggests, “trusted in himself.”
And, I do believe this guy by the way. I do not think that he is lying or exaggerating in any way. I believe that he is telling the truth when he says that he is not a thief, nor does he shake people down, nor does he sleep around, nor does even work with the murderous and evil Roman empire. I believe that this guy is completely telling the truth. But, these vices of stealing and adultery, terrible as they are, are not the only sins we humans have to worry about. In fact, they are not even the primary sins as defined by Jesus.
Jesus tells us over and over again that the highest goal of any faithful person is to love God and in a similar way, to love their neighbor. Therefore, the primary sins would be not loving God and failing to love the neighbor. And, though this very holy man exceeds all expectations in personal morality, he even gives ten percent of his income, but he falls flat when it comes to loving God and loving neighbor.
This parable is all about the distance this man keeps between himself and the tax collector. I mean this literally. The Bible clearly says that he went up to the temple to pray, and when he enters the temple he chooses to “stand by himself.” Rather than join the tax collector as he prays “far off,” the Pharisee points to the tax collector as an example of the decrepit nature of this world. He points his finger at what “hell in a hand basket” looks like rather than joining together with the man.
This is what the artificial intelligence could not understand; why would anyone pray alone? Why would anyone choose to point fingers rather than join together? And, the artificial intelligence is not alone in this; Jesus cannot understand either.
After-all, we were created to be joined together with God. We were created to be joined with one another. From the start of creation, we were made to be one another’s partners.
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner’” (Genesis 2:18). This is more than just about marriage; it is about humankind in general. We were made to be partners with God and one another. We were made for each other.
As the parable clearly demonstrates, the Pharisee trusts in himself. He does not trust God; he trusts himself. He does not trust his fellow human being; he trusts himself. He believes that he is right. He feels justified enough to judge others. And, he is the one who does not go home justified. He is the one who is missing the mark. If this were deer hunting practice, he would be the one shooting arrows into the weeds.
So, who is the one shooting the arrow into the heart of the target? Jesus says that the man who went down to his home justified, the one who hit the mark, is the tax collector.
What is so special about the tax collector? Obviously, it is not his propensity to support evil regimes, or use his tax collecting job as a money making machine. What is so special about him? Luckily, Jesus tells us, and if you read your Bibles carefully, you will see.
The Bible says, “the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven” (Luke 18:13).
The tax collector too is standing far off, but not out of hatred or contempt for anyone else. He is standing far off because he is full of shame. He cannot look up to heaven for the same reason. But, he does talk to God. And, his speech is not a self-congratulatory monologue, rather it is a plea for God to intervene in his life. “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13b).
What is so special about the tax collector? He desires more than anything to be closer to God. He cannot trust in himself. He desires God.
If only the two men were literally closer. If only they were praying together, as the computer art would have it be. If only the Pharisee could hear the prayer of the tax collector. Maybe, just maybe, his heart of judgment would be transformed into a heart of understanding and love. Maybe, just maybe, he would be humbled, and the humble man would be encouraged. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
There is something powerful about praying together. There is something powerful about entering into another person’s life, rather than simply commenting on another person’s life, that Jesus can use to transform our lives. There is something powerful about praying together.
I think about the man who entered a small church for the first time. When the man entered, it was almost a certainty that the man would not remain long. He was rather large, had a torn coat, had a scar on his forehead, and was wearing a hat.
He had a hat on in church! In the past, the hat in particular had made the blood boil of the lead usher. He was an impeccably dressed man, with suite, tie, and folded napkin in his pocket. In the past, he had ushered people, not to their seats, but back out the door to go put on respectful attire. Somehow this man with the hat had made it past the lead usher, and found a seat near the front of the small church.
As the first hymn started, it was obvious that the lead usher had taken notice of the man with the torn coat, scarred forehead, and hat. He was moving in for the kill.
One by one, members of the congregation noticed the lead usher coming up the aisle, and they waited for the predicted confrontation to come. Everyone assumed the lead usher was irate because it seemed obviously that he had no intention of doing any of this quietly.
Standing straight and walking with purpose, the lead usher turned sharply and quickly entered into the man’s pew. Just seconds before the expected confrontation, seconds before he would rip the man’s hat off and tell him to leave and return with appropriate attire for the worship of the Almighty God, the lead usher did the unexpected. The lead usher sat down next to the large guy, with torn coat, scar on his forehead, and hat.
The lead usher stayed there. He sang hymns with the guy, he listened to scripture with the guy, he talked with the guy, and yes, he even prayed with the guy.
That day Jesus humbled an exulted guy and a humbled guy was exulted. That day two men prayed together, just as God had intended it to be. That day, an entire church saw what it is to love God and love neighbor. That day, Jesus taught everyone what it looks like to love.
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