Luke 18:10-14 (link)
Oops!
Sometimes, it’s good to be annoying. As any brother with a little sister knows, being annoying can ensure that your parents will take your sister’s side—every time!
And, it seems, Jesus even agrees.
He once told a parable about a widow who needed a judge to grant her justice against her opponent (Luke 18:1-8). However, this judge didn’t fear God, nor did he care about people. It would seem that the widow was stuck with no hope for getting justice. If all this judge cared about was his own worldly power, and his own material possessions, what hope did she have that he’d rule in her favor?
But, then she got an idea! What if she annoyed him? And that’s exactly what she did.
Day after day, week after week, she continually bugged this judge asking for justice. Then, one day, the judge finally agreed saying,
“Though indeed I do not fear God, nor do I have any concern for humankind, I shall grant her justice simply because she bothers me, for fear that at the last she will entirely exhaust me with her visits.”
Yay! There’s justice for the widow. All seems right in the world. The parable seems to end on a high note with Jesus reassuring the people that if this corrupt judge can rule justly, then God, who is the most just, will definitely rule justly.
But, then Jesus ended the parable with one last jab, an insult to those listening: “Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he then find trust on the earth?”
Ugh!
What does Jesus mean by this? Why would he say such a thing?
It seems he’s referring to the widow’s trust that the judge would, in the end, rule justly. Things had looked bleak, yet, the widow approached the situation with optimism, never giving up.
The implication is that we also may think our situation is bleak. We may want to give up, yet, the parable insists that we trust like the widow did. We must continually plead your case before our just God. Don’t give up. Annoy God if you have to.
Yet, it seems that Jesus doesn’t trust us. He seems to be saying that he doesn’t believe that we will act as the widow did.
Is Jesus justified?
Perhaps he can tell us more—plead his case for the hopelessness of humanity. Well, have no worry, because he does. This is today’s parable, the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. Listen to the opening line:
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt …”
Aha! Jesus reveals a deeper truth of our human condition. It’s not just that we aren’t like the widow, trusting in God’s justice; it’s that we place our trust in ourselves. So, it’s less about us giving up hope, and more about us, instead, being like the judge.
And, how does it turn out for us when we trust in ourselves? What does that look like?
Well, it looks like the Pharisee, a man who stands before God with no shame. He stands before God and brags: “Look at me. See how perfect I am? See how I’m not a loser? See how I’m actually a winner? See how I great I make things?”
Aha!
In other words, placing trust in ourselves, rather than God, gives us a grandiose sense of our own self-importance. We become preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success or power. We may need excessive admiration, while lacking empathy for others. And, our behaviors will often betray us as we act arrogantly and haughtily.
If this is our human condition, is there any hope? It seems there is. Through a change of heart, a repentance that comes by humbling ourselves. If we are able to do that, then Jesus says there’s hope for us yet.
In the parable, it’s the tax-collector, the publican, who does this by realizing his own unworthiness. In shame he’s not even able to lift up his head to look at God directly. With his head downcast, he beats his beast in sorrow and utters few words:
“God, grant mercy to me a sinner.”
It’s this self-humbling that grants this man righteousness. And, ironically, our first step is to admit that Jesus is probably right to ask whether he’ll find any trust on earth when he returns. Confessing that we do lack trust in God, confessing that we often only act in our own self-interest is to become the publican and find salvation.
Whee!
But confession is nothing without action. God has called us to humble ourselves, to repentant. Now he’s waiting for us to respond. And, if we’re lost for ideas, the Gospel of Luke is ready to help.
Luke tells us that humbling oneself looks like a ruler selling all his has to follow Jesus (18:18-25).
It looks like the disciples who left their jobs, their homes, and their families to follow Jesus (18:28-30).
It looks like a blind man shouting out to Jesus for justice even when the establishment tells him to be quiet (18:35-43).
It looks like Zacchaeus who repays, 4-fold, everyone whom he cheated and gives away half of what he owns to the poor.
In short, it looks like all those things Jesus said in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:17-49):
- Loving your enemies,
- Doing good to those who hate you,
- Blessing those who curse you,
- Letting others strike you on the cheek,
- Giving someone your shirt when they steal your coat,
- Not asking for your stuff back if someone steals it,
- And, giving to everyone who begs from you.
Ultimately, what it looks like is Jesus hanging on the cross. In accepting the shame of the cross, Jesus, the Son of God, offers us the most complete and perfect example of humility.
Jesus “… subsisting in God’s form, did not deem being on equal terms with God a thing to be grasped, But instead emptied himself, taking a slave’s form, coming to be in a likeness of human beings; and, being found as a human being in shape, He reduced himself, becoming obedient all the way to death, and a death by a cross. For which reason God also exalted him on high and graced him with the name that is above every name, So that at the name of Jesus every knee—of beings heavenly and earthly and subterranean—should bend, And every tongue gladly confess that Jesus the Anointed is Lord, for the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:6-11)
Through the humility of the cross, Jesus offers us redemption. Through the humility of the tax-collector, we see how we can approach God and begin to change. We see how it begins in our hearts and radiates throughout everything we do in our lives.
Yeah!
So, the question remains: When the Son of Man comes, will He find trust on the earth? The answer depends on us.
Will we persist in pride, or will we humble ourselves before God?
Will we act like the judge doesn’t fear God and respects no one, or will we act like the widow humbling ourselves to continually plead our case?
Will we be like the Pharisee, a braggart and showoff, or will we, like the Publican, wake up, humble ourselves, and ask for God’s mercy?
Living the lives Jesus calls us to–ones that reflect humility, repentance, and love—isn’t easy, but it’s where we find salvation.
It’s time to answer Jesus’s question? This Lenten season, he’s watching for our answer.
Amen.