Attitude Matters
Proper 25, Year C
The parable in today’s Gospel (Luke 18:9-14) invites us to examine our attitudes. This invitation comes with a warning: doing the right thing while harboring a wrong attitude compromises our relationship with God. Bad attitudes distance us from God by making it hard for us to conceive of, let alone offer, God’s love to ourselves and others. Attitude matters. In the parable, Jesus described the worship practice of two Jews, a Pharisee and a tax collector. People who heard this parable would have expected the Pharisee to be redeemed and the tax collector to be beyond redemption.
Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were not salaried government employees. Individuals or groups bid for the right to collect taxes for Rome. Winning bidders paid Rome upfront for the right to collect taxes in a region. Tax agents collected the levies set by the Roman government for land, tolls, and commercial activities. Agents charged more than Rome levied, to cover the bid cost and earn a living. Jewish tax collectors were disdained by other Jews because they worked for the occupying government. Most Jews assumed all tax agents were criminals because some agents used threats and set exorbitant up-charges when collecting taxes. When the tax collector in the parable entered the temple he stood far off. He did not lift his eyes toward heaven and he beat his breast. He positioned himself where he hoped he would not be seen by worshippers and worship leaders. The tax collector prayed, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Luke 18:13
The other person who entered the temple for worship was a Pharisee. Pharisees were members of a religious group that believed in the resurrection of the dead, and they looked for the coming of a Messiah.
Pharisees adhered to religious practices prescribed in the Bible and developed oral and written Bible interpretations and commentaries. They were considered devout and learned people who could sometimes be legalistic or hypocritical. When the Pharisee entered the temple, he walked right up front, positioning himself ahead of worshippers and before worship leaders. From this spot, the Pharisee could see and be seen. He stood to pray; the customary posture for prayer. He offered prayers of thanksgiving and praise: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even the tax collector I passed on my way into worship. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” Luke 18:11-12
The Pharisee earned his living in religious work. His religious practices exceeded what the Bible prescribed. His prayer gave thanks and praise for his accomplishments, instead of giving praise and thanks to God who made his accomplishments possible. His prayer also denigrated people whose actions and occupations were deemed wrong by religious and secular norms. People who, like the Pharisee, were children of God.
People loved and forgiven by God. The tax agent earned his living in secular work, collecting money owed to an occupying government. His prayer was a petition and confession. He asked God for mercy, owned his sinful behavior, and acknowledged his reliance on God for salvation. Jesus told the people listening to this parable, that the man they assumed beyond redemption, not the man considered holy, returned home justified. The righteous actions of the Pharisee failed to redeem him because of his self-righteous attitude. The Book of Proverbs says,
Pride goeth before… before a fall. It is better to have a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide spoils with the proud. Proverbs 16:18-19
Jesus said, “all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14 Attitude matters. Because attitude matters, the times we live in are perilous. The wrangling in the Anglican Church may prompt bad attitudes.
The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (with bishops and members in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Chile, and parts of Asia) are being tempted to cop a bad attitude. They want a spiritual head of the Anglican Communion who agrees with them. A leader who will uphold scriptural orthodoxy, denounce the ordination of females and homosexuals, and limit the sacrament of marriage to heterosexuals. Bishops who belong to the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, claim to be leaders of the true Anglican Church. They refuse to accept Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury. They are planning to appoint an alternate Archbishop and are calling regions to join them. It would be easy for bishops and members in other parts of the Anglican Communion (Britain, Ireland, Canada, Puerto Rico, South Africa, and American) to respond with a equally bad attitude. Attitudes like those of the Pharisee: pointing to the polygamous marriages, selective application of biblical laws and norms, and the discriminatory actions against Muslim, Hindu, and other non-Christians by the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. Copping these attitudes “sees the speck in our neighbor’s eye, while overlooking the log in our own eye.” Matthew 7:3 Attitude matters. We live in perilous political times. Times when we are tempted every hour of every day during this government shutdown to give God thanks and praise because we’re not like those “liberal hacks and elitists on the left or those right-wing wackos and extremists.” The Rev. Joseph S. Pagano Sermons that Work, Proper 25, Year C Attitude matters.
What matters to God? What are God’s expectations for our religious life? Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart…” What does God expect from our politics? When the time came for Israel to select a new king, God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint the man of God’s choosing. God instructed Samuel:
…do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected these, for the Lord does not see as mortals see; mortals look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
What is in our hearts matters to God. Attitude matters. We need to do the right things and foster the right attitudes. Please take care: keep a close watch on your reactions and be honest in your self assessment. Copping attitudes, no matter how well justified, undermines the good we do for family, friends, community, and strangers. The Pharisee’s attitude meant he went home from worship unjustified. Attend to how you love and serve God and to your attitudes toward God’s. Remember: doing the right thing while harboring a wrong attitude compromises your relationship with God.
