Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year 3, NL)

What we can learn from the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector

This Reformation Day, I'm preaching the Gospel text from the lectionary.

Jesus' characters aren't nuanced; they're all elbows and ankles.

What does Mr. Publican do once he arrives at home?

Nations as well as individuals need to look in the moral mirror in order to stop deceiving ourselves.

I used to picture humility as a door I was afraid to open. I never thought of it as an itinerary to holiness.

Reconciliation requires relocation. To see the effects of our food choices, we have to get close to the land.

It has not happened all that often, but on occasions someone has been upset enough with a sermon I've preached to call me up and complain.

Words of judgment are difficult to hear. Actually, I have no trouble hearing how they apply to others. And when the preacher gives a logical explanation of how the law applies to me, I understand it and nod my head in agreement. But it often makes little connection with my heart and even less with the way I live.

Jesus uses this parable to lure us into a trap. Hearing it we cannot help but be thankful we are not like that Pharisee. If we are thankful we are not like him, then we are just like him.

The first time I heard the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector was as a small child attending vacation Bible school at Pond Fork Baptist Church. I remember the end of the little curtained balcony where our class was held, sunlight coming into our room rejoicing through a dusty window, the buzzing of insects in the July fields outside, a flannel board with figures stuck on it, and best of all, the anticipation of a story, followed by Kool-Aid and cookies.