A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, October 24, 2010.
“WAGES, OR A GIFT?”(Homily text: Luke 18: 9 – 14)
Think with me for a moment about the difference between wages and a gift.
When we receive payment for work done, we call that payment “wages”. In Jesus’ day, a common day laborer was paid one denarius per day, that was the prevailing wage.
Today, we still measure – in most cases – wages in terms of time and money. For example, we say that the wage for a given position is “so much per hour”.
A wage is given in direct response to the amount of time that’s been devoted to the work for which it is paid. In the case of a wage, the wage-earner earns his/her monetary payment.
Now, think about a gift for a moment….A gift is something we do not earn. It may be given in response to some aspect of a relationship between two persons or between a person and a group, or between two groups. For example, we give gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, or when people leave a position and go elsewhere, to cite some examples.
We can’t earn a gift. Even if a gift is given in response to something a person (or persons) has done, there’s no direct correlation between the two. The gift is freely given. The gift can’t be demanded, for it isn’t a gift, if it is.
Now, keeping in mind the difference between wages and a gift, let’s turn our attention to today’s gospel text, which is the very familiar Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (tax collector). This parable is but one example of the treasure trove which Luke alone imparts to us. No other gospel writer provides this parable to us.
Here, we see the Pharisee, first of all, proclaiming his righteous deeds:
- “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men!”
- “I fast twice a week,”
- “I give tithes of all that I get.”
Now, contrast the Pharisee’s behavior with that of the tax collector. Jesus says that the tax collector wouldn’t “even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast.” Moreover, the tax collector “stood afar off”.
Finally, the tax collector says to God, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”
As we analyze the behavior of the two men, we see that the Pharisee is interesting in being paid, rewarded, for his work. That seems to be the clear implication of his actions.
Such an assumption is in keeping with the image that the four gospels paint of the Pharisee movement. We should remember that this group knew the Law of Moses, the Torah, backwards and forwards. They sought to ensure that everyone kept every one of its hundreds of precepts faithfully and religiously. They also seemed to be quite proud not only of their knowledge, but of their accomplishments in doing so. Think of the very unflattering image we have from Jesus’ lips about this sort of religious person: He says that they love to have the best seats in the synagogues and at banquets, they love to be greeted in the marketplaces by their titles, and they love to wear long robes.
On the other hand, the tax collector goes away “justified” in the sight of God, Jesus says.
Why?
The reason is simple: The tax collector’s prayer is the very prayer that creates a relationship between God and us. By praying the tax collector’s prayer, we admit our sinfulness, which separates us from God’s holiness. And, we pray for God’s mercy to be present upon us and within us.
When we admit our spiritual condition, and ask for God’s mercy, then a relationship of love begins between God and us.
Such a love relationship is then created in which gifts flow between God and us.
So, Jesus’ point seems to be that we can’t earn God’s favor.
If the Pharisees and the Scribes missed that point, so too did some of the early Christians.
St. Paul takes pains to underscore the spiritual reality of the nature of our relationship with God when he writes in Ephesians 2: 9 this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast.”
We couldn’t state the formula by which we come into a right relationship with God any better – or more clearly – than that.
We are saved by grace, through faith. And this saving is a gift. We can’t earn it.
As time went along, other Christians also struggled with this reality. In the late 4th and early 5th centuries, a British theologian named Pelagius taught that human beings could respond to God through their own initiative, without God’s grace. Subsequently, others began to teach similar ideas, and we know this heresy by the name of its founder, Pelagianism.
The spirit of Pelagianism is alive and well today: For many think that they can work their way up into God’s grace and favor by their own means and by their own efforts.
Lifting up themselves by their own spiritual bootstraps might be a good way to summarize this sort of an attitude.
As more time went along, Christians during the Reformation era also struggled with the spirit of Pelagianism, as many reformers stood in opposition to the idea that human beings could better themselves in God’s eyes by their own efforts. Indeed, this thread within the Reformation movement was a major one. We would do well not to lose sight of the importance of this thread in the attempts of the reformers in the 16th century to bring the Church back to a right understanding of the nature of the relationship between God and us.
God’s mercy is a gift to us, something that we can’t earn at all (for we have nothing to pay for it with!).
And God’s continuing presence, guidance and support all throughout this life is a gift that continues to manifest itself as time goes along.
In response, we give God gifts. These may be gifts of time, gifts of our talents, devoted to the Lord’s work in this place and elsewhere, gifts of our monetary treasure (this could easily become a stewardship sermon, as we think about our financial support of our parish church’s ministries in the coming year).
Put another way, the basis for our relationship with God is God’s grace, first and foremost. In response, we come to God in faith, trusting in His goodness and mercy, and acknowledging our sinfulness, seen in the light of God’s holiness.
Now, the relationship can be established, for it rests on this foundation.
What follows, then, is an exchange of gifts: gifts that God gives to us, and gifts that we give in response.
There is no accounting measure in place as gifts flow between God and the people that He loves. No measure which might say “I gave you so many gifts, and you gave me so many.”
No.
For if we begin to keep count, then we are in the same position as the Pharisee, for we are demanding payment for deeds done.
May the Holy Spirit bring our hearts to life, that we may see God’s grace clearly, acknowledge our own unworthiness to ask for God’s mercy, and then receive that mercy.
May the gifts then begin to flow between God and us, uncounted, unaccounted, until we see Him face-to-face.
AMEN.
