What the musterer remembered

Pentecost 23 year C Sermon Luke 18:9-14

This Sermon was preached at Tarras Church on the occasion of the 125 Jubilee of the Tarras School and the Centenary of Morven Hills. The church was full.

Let me tell you a story about a musterer. He was quite a rough character truth be known. Oh all scrubbed up at a funeral he looked alright, but he was really fidgety in a jacket and tie…much more comfortable in jeans or work shorts…

actually didn’t own a pair of town shoes…loved his old boots…wore them all the time outside the house.

Couldn’t really keep the F’ings and the JC’s out of his conversation even for a few minutes…been mustering too long. Better just to keep away from people who’d judge him…or worse... pretend to… in polite company.

That’s just the way it was…some knew all the rules because their kind had made them…and others like him…well they broke them…and once they’d got you pegged for a rule breaker…social or legal…or religious
well…you were on the outside…

And the musterer knew where he stood…he knew his place…

The only thing that really bugged him was their high and mighty attitude… their sense of entitlement…
you’d think they had a front row seat in heaven reserved for them …

But somewhere along the line he’d heard about this Jesus character… maybe it was Bible in Schools…and how he’d partied with the rougher sort…even drank with them…
and how that got him on the outer with all the religious perfectionists…

But Jesus told them off didn’t he… for thinking their public purity was going to bring about the reign of God they were looking for …and the thing the musterer had always remembered…the thing that stuck in his mind was that the Kingdom of God was going to be in people’s hearts.

The tax collectors and other sinner this Jesus partied with knew they were a rough lot… knew they were outsiders …knew they had to trust in God’s mercy and grace…
if they were ever going to stand a chance when the final judgment came. To the musterer’s memory…Jesus seemed to feel more relaxed with that kind anyway.

And you know just thinking about that story gave the musterer some comfort if he started beating himself up for one of his more dubious escapades…specially the ones he felt guilty for. But that was between him and the fella upstairs.

Ok with our musterer friend in mind… let’s listen again to Jesus parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector. And this time let’s look at a painting of it while we do.

[Hand out sheets]

Right…here’s the Bible reading for today again.

Jesus also told this parable to some who were
certain in themselves that they were righteous
and regarded others with contempt: Jesus said once upon a time…

"Two men both of them Jews… went up to the temple to pray…one was a Pharisee… that’s a religious perfectionist…and the other was a tax collector...
who couldn’t come right in…because his job was a dirty one and the rule makers would let him right into the Temple.

Now the Pharisee was standing by himself…
right in there where only religious perfectionists were allowed…and here’s what he prayed...He prayed…
'God, I thank you that I’m not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like that tax collector out there on the porch.

Yeah…and by the way God I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all my income to the upkeep of the Temple Amen.'

And…the tax collector… who knew he wasn’t allowed in because they’d labelled unclean because of his work…the tax collector…couldn’t even look in God’s direction…he just stood there with his head hanging down…beating himself up in shame for all the stupid hurtful stuff he’d done.

And here’s what the tax collector prayed…

'God, all I can say is be merciful to me…
I know I’m a sinner!'

Then Jesus wraps up the story with his own verdict…

I tell you what…Jesus says…this poor guy on the porch … went down to his home justified…not the one who thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread…
for everyone who puts themselves up there is going to fall off their perch…but everyone whose got their feet on the ground where they belong… is going to be really popular with my old man – you know…God.  

So the tax collector on the porch goes home justified.

What does it mean to be justified?

Well, if we were standing in the crowd Jesus is talking to… we know the word comes from the kind of court system they’re used to. It was very different from the ones in Queenstown or Alex…
In their day if someone stole from you…
you had to bring a charge against them yourself…
you couldn’t get the police to do it for you.
you just had to stand up for yourself…
no lawyers or anything.

And in Jesus’ day…when a judge had heard both sides of the story…he’d decide without reference to a jury… whose side he was on…

If he came down on your side…they said you were justified…

So the word ‘justification’ which we hear a lot in Paul’s letters… but hardly ever in the gospels… means exactly that: the judge has found in your favour.’

So the question facing both the religious perfectionists and Jesus friends…is this:
‘when the final judgement comes…
which ones will be justified?

Will it be the religious purists…who keep the law perfectly … or will it be those who eat and drink with Jesus …and put their faith in God’s mercy?

As they approach Jerusalem…and Jesus’ arrest and execution …Jesus knows the temptation to give up on God…is going to be strong for his friends…
And that is why he asks his friends…to have faith…
no matter what happens…no matter how hopeless things appear…

keep your faith alive…

keep your relationship with God alive in prayer…
and like the tax collector and the musterer…
never give up hope in God’s mercy...

And you know what it was Jesus’ friends like the tax collector Matthew who went on to spread this good news right across the Roman Empire and even here to places like Tarras… at the ends of the earth.