October 28, 2007

A couple years ago, our confirmands wrote devotionals for an assignment.  The assignment was to write on a piece of Luther’s Small Catechism.  I asked permission of one of our students to read from his devotional this morning.  It is slightly graphic.  The language he uses might be considered a little improper or impious for a worship setting.  All the better.  In the parable from Luke today, the tax collector’s very presence in the temple is likely considered improper or impious.

I will use the original language our student used.  I quote:

“When you feel like you are going to barf or throw up you have the worst feeling going on inside of you, and you just want that awful feeling to go away.  But once you do eventually throw up and get all those nasty things out of you, you feel much much better.

It’s the same thing with confessing your sins.

When you have sinned, you feel extremely guilty inside.  You also feel extremely bad, like when you need to barf.  But once you confess your sins to God, a pastor, or even just a friend (a ‘fellow Christian’), you feel so much better because all the bad things inside of you go away (like the barf coming out of your mouth).  If you confess your sins to God, he immediately forgives you of all your sins.  On Sunday mornings during the Church service, the pastor says that if we confess our sins, God will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  After confessing your sins, you feel great inside and satisfied, like after you’ve drunken a really nice, cold tropical smoothie because God has given us absolute forgiveness.”

The devotional was written by Erik Sateren, and I so appreciate his making confession and absolution come alive for us.  We normally do confession and absolution at the beginning of our services.  Today, we will do it after the sermon, as a response to hearing God’s Word.

Erik’s piece on confession/absolution is something like a jr. high commentary on this text from Luke.  Which one of these two characters is more like a person throwing up?  Let’s look at them up close.

First we have the Pharisee.  But before we get too upset with his arrogance, we should remember that he’s the kind of guy we would probably want to join our church.  He’s a religious leader.  He tithes 10% - he fasts.  He studies Scripture.  He helps keep the religious community afloat.  He might barf when he has the flu, but I doubt he barfs too much about his sin – because he doesn’t seem to commit very many sins – at least not obvious ones.

Then there’s the tax-collector.  But before we make him the hero of the story, we should remember that this Jewish tax-collector works for Rome – Rome oppresses the Jewish people.  His work supports a system he might not want to support.  He probably pockets some of the money he collects.  Most people hate him, but it’s a living.  At the end of the day if it’s a matter of guilt-induced insomnia or sleep, he might choose sleep.  But in the presence of God, when faced with the Scriptures that demand love of God and neighbor, he must know he falls short in those areas in large part because of his job.

So friends, which one of these is more like one vomiting?  The one who says how great he is or the one who can’t even look to heaven and who says only, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”?  Beating the breast is a sign of deep lamentation and grief.

Or better yet – I will ask a question the story itself begs: which one of these people do you think you are more like?

The Pharisee’s problem isn’t that he’s grateful – it’s that he doesn’t think he has anything in common with obvious sinners – with people he doesn’t like.  He trusts in himself – he trusts his own goodness.  He expects a smoothie from God and has no plans to share it.  His gratitude only separates him from the neighbor he is supposed to love.

Confession is like throwing up, writes Erik.  Something we can all understand – all that nasty stuff will eat you up if it stays inside.  Our confirmands get this.  In faith statements, Arron writes about his real struggles with evil.  Siri Berg Moberg writes about people we tend to avoid.  Leah says everyone sins – it what makes us human.  Rachel writes that we have much to be ashamed of as a human race.  Kaila writes, if you fall or are hurt…you can get to a point where you are no longer fixable.  Siri McCord talks about God’s gift for us being more than we deserve.  How great it is that these young people took the opportunity to express all this nasty stuff!  And they took us to the smoothie bar.  Maddie wonders how we can hear that Jesus died for us without getting a little excited about it.  And Luke asks: are some people more faithful than me because they sin less than me?  Who is to judge but God?

None.  There is no one to judge but God – there is no one who is righteous – since all have sinned and fallen short.  And so how does God judge?  Read Scripture - look to Jesus.  You’ll see and hear how God judges– and it will change your life.

In the presence of God, there is no ‘us’ and ‘them.’  As much as we share the common cold, we share a common Creator, we share a sin-sick soul, and we share a savior who is willing to share our humanity in sickness and in death.  Please forgive the crass metaphor, but when we throw up, in Christ God is a big enough toilet.  Look who Jesus hangs out with: sinners – tax collectors – people who are despised and different – and he is hated for it.  He takes on the world’s vomit so we can rise from the waters of baptism as people who share not only sin but also forgiveness and mercy – and because we share those, we can share love for each other.  Love for the other – love for the different – love for the outcast and the unpopular.

Yesterday, one of our confirmation parents presented our group of students with a small gift.  She expressed her gratitude for welcoming her family, in her words, ‘an interesting family.’  What she actually meant by interesting was ‘different.’  She said it was ok that I share this in my sermon.

Friends, sisters and brothers, look around you – what an ‘interesting’ family is the family of GOD!  The church is for all – and it’s one heck of a mixed group.  God’s family is different.  No one in this family has the right to say they’re better than anyone else – no one.  In school and at work people lord over others, but not in the Christian community – never in this alternative community of God’s family.  Never: thank you God that I’m not like the bad kids.  Never: thank you God that I’m not like the smarty pants goody-goody kids.  Never: thank you that I’m not like those conservatives.  Never: thank you that I’m not like those liberals.

In the presence of God, we share a common sickness – common messiness – common human frailty and common sinfulness.  In the presence of God we don’t focus on what separates us but on what we share.  Confirmands, in this world of alienation, I hope and pray that you and I both see what a gift this is – this alternative community to which God calls you and calls me.  Here, you aren’t either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – here you are both/and – together – at the same time – all of us – broken and fixed – sinner and saint.

Well, thank you God that it’s water and not vomit that we use in baptism!  But in with and under it all is God’s Word – a Word that opens our eyes to who we are, who God is, what God promises.  Forgiveness isn’t just a good feeling in place of a bad one.  It’s a promise – a gift given to those who do not earn it.  And it changes the way we see and the way we live.