“KYRIE ELIESON”
Saint Luke 18.9-14
The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity: 22 August Anno Domini 2004
Fr Watson
Our Lord cares deeply about prayer. He prayed and He wants His brothers and sisters to pray likewise. He told one parable about the persistent widow who came to an unjust judge so doggedly and with such fervor that even he finally granted her just petition for redress. That is the determination which the Lord wants you to emulate when you pray. The Christ also told this morning's Gospel Parable of the Pharisee and Publican to illuminate another prayer reality. Prayer isn't about what you want; it's about what you need. Prayer isn't about what you've done; it's about what Christ has done for you. Prayer, real Christian prayer, is about knowing who God is, and what man is; what you are under the thin veneer, the makeup, the mask.
You need to repent of your "old nature" for you daily rely and trust too much in yourselves. You need to ask God to forgive you for the way you despise others. You can't hide behind the broad caricature of the "cartoonish" Pharisee. The Lord is speaking to you in His parable. You need to disabuse yourselves of the notion that you're a good person. No your not. If you were "good" you wouldn't get old and die. The Apostle writes: "the wages of sin is death" and "there is no one who does good, no not one," Righteousness, being "right with God" isn't about what you do (because you don't do it) it's about what you are. You are a sinner by birth, by inheritance, by nature. You aren't a sinner because you sin everyday. It's just the opposite. "The good I would do, I do not, the bad that I would refrain from doing I do everyday." You sin every day because you are Sinner.
The Pharisee won't let Jesus clothe him in Christ's righteousness because he's too enamored with his own fine raiment. But he's really wearing filthy waste covered rotting rags. Sin causes total delusional, spiritual psychosis. Our "old Adam" natures blind us to our true decay and stench. The old fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" has much deep theology to teach us, even though it's not an "official parable." The little boy who cries out the truth: "the emperor is buck naked" serves to illustrate what a pastor does when he correctly preaches the Law of God. The Law of God enables you to see properly in the mirror what you really look like apart from the Christ. It's not a pretty sight. We don't feel smug when we hear Jesus talk of the Pharisee because we know He's really talking about our sinfulness. You do "despise others." There is no indictment that you are rude or "mean" or go out of your way to physically hurt other people. "Despising" is a state of
mind; a disease of the heart. We think we are more righteous than the abortionist, the militant Palestinian, the arrogant Zionist, the weasel socialistic thieving democrat, the ignorant out-of-touch republican, the Jehovah's Witness, the radical feminist, the goofy "D.C.E.," the hypocritical smarmy tetotaling Methodist, the wife, the husband, the child, the "other guy" over there that just doesn't recognize our real, deep, hidden qualities of "goodness." But it isn't true. We're not "good" deep down inside our hearts. No, you don't want to know what's deep down inside of yourself. But you need to know, because only the dead man can appreciate the Savior who brings him to life. Only the dirty and wounded prisoner knows how glorious it is to be cleaned and given medicine. The Law of the perfect and Holy Trinity crushes you down to the ground in despair. The Love of God for you in Christ Jesus lifts you back up with tenderness and FORGIVENESS. When you are called by the Holy Spirit through Jesus' Words, and through Jesus' Words attached to water, wine and bread, and given to believe just what this Redeemer did to Redeem you, then faith is
Daily drown the "old Adam" as Dr. Luther suggests when you confess your sin and remember your new identity in Holy Baptism. With confidence confess: "Lord have mercy upon me a sinner; I am Baptized." Confess your sins in thought, word, and deed and know that you have been washed clean as pure virgin snow by the Blood of Jesus. Sing the Kyrie believing by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true. Believe that the Lord who died for you on the cross has already resurrected you into His Body by His Easter Victory. Believe that the Body He gave on Calvary, the Blood He shed from the Tree are now your nourishing staples---your food of immortality. Beat your breasts in honest recognition of the sinful flesh that will in fact one day die. But then sing with exuberant joy the trusting, praying cry of Faith: Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy. Lord have Mercy.
"God IS merciful to you."
Wearing Christ by faith, fed with the Bread of Life, go home today Exalted "In Him" Justified by Him. You are forgiven. Depart in Peace.
In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost