As John Calvin taught and as our Westminster Shorter Catechism makes clear – human beings are afflicted with “Total Depravity.” That does not mean that everything we do is sinful – but it does mean that every aspect of God’s creation is fallen and affected by sin. That is why planes crash, cars rust, buildings burn, trees rot, animals eat other animals, people kill other people. Nothing in God’s creation is exempt from the effects of sin. And the effects seem the worst in human beings. Our Westminster Shorter Catechism sums this concept up in question 82: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? What do you think the answer is? Of course, the answer is NO. Here is how the Catechism puts it: No mere man – since the fall – is able – in this life – perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but doth daily break them in thought, word, and deed. That’s all-inclusive, isn’t it? Paul put it even more simply in Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Perhaps a more uncomfortable translation is “All have sinned and lack the glory of God.” We Presbyterians are reminded regularly of our sinfulness and God’s forgiveness – every Lord’s Day as we pray the Prayer of Confession together. We acknowledge to God and each other that we have failed to keep God’s Law – but we are also reminded every Lord’s Day that we are forgiven because of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.
As Jesus tells the parable we just read in Luke’s account of the Gospel, He contrasts two sinners who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee – one of the religious elite, who worked hard to keep every one of God’s commands – and who also worked hard to find loopholes for the ones they didn’t keep. The Pharisee looked up toward heaven and prayed: “God, I thank You that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or this tax collector. I fast twice a week and tithe faithfully.” While we cringe at the Pharisee’s arrogance and self-righteousness, the general population looked up to him. He worked hard to keep God’s law – when he wasn’t working harder to figure out ways around it. He was proud of his cleverness and his spiritual discipline – giving his full tithe and fasting not once, but twice a week. We may even look up to him as a great spiritual example. The other man – the tax collector – was despised by the people for collaborating with the Roman occupiers – and for his dishonesty. He probably had a long history of cheating people – couldn’t bring himself to look up to heaven. He was smacking himself in the chest and praying, “God, be merciful to me – a sinner.” We know which one went home forgiven and which one went home with his sin still on his permanent record. The tax collector was sincerely repentant: he did not merely say, “I’m sorry, Lord” – he acknowledged his sin and begged for forgiveness. Which he received. The Pharisee went home feeling good about himself – blissfully unaware that God was still holding his sin against him. The word used for repentance in the New Testament is “metanoia” – which literally means “change of perception.” We would say, “change of heart” – but Greek is a more head-oriented language. And it’s true that true repentance comes from seeing things differently – from God’s perspective.
That drives a change in our thinking, our attitudes, our beliefs, and our actions. It is a comprehensive transformation. No wonder the prefix “meta” is also found in words like “metamorphosis.” Nothing had changed in the Pharisee – he failed to see that he fell short of God’s glorious standards. He was proud of all that he was doing for God – without realizing that he wasn’t being what God wanted: humble, kind, forgiving, generous, merciful, caring, compassionate, faithful – just to name a few characteristics God wanted him to embrace. But the tax collector had been changed – He had come to realize what a dishonest man he had been, and had come to the Temple to beg God for forgiveness. He wanted to change – and I’m sure that Jesus was implying in the parable that the tax collector would do his best to repay the people he had defrauded. This man had experienced true repentance – true metanoia – and his life was going to be different. And Jesus wraps up the story by saying that the tax collector went home justified – made right in the sight of God – because, unlike the Pharisee – he was willing to admit his sin and let God make him new. The harsh reality of this parable is that everyone is a sinner in need of repentance and forgiveness. Some have longer rap sheets and some have shorter ones – but we all have them. Some have a lot of seemingly minor transgressions – while others have a good number of major sins. Most of us have a mixture of the two. So we are all in need of God’s mercy. As John Calvin wrote – “Adam consigned his race to ruin by his rebellion …” And Paul put it this way in Romans 5: “By one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners …” But the Good News that immediately follows that statement is that “… so also through the obedience of the one man (who is Jesus) the many will be made righteous.” And so – what we take away from this parable is that we cannot behave our way to eternal life. We can never keep enough commandments, give enough of our time or money, or do enough good deeds to earn eternal life.
Trying to stand on our good works guarantees that we will fall. On the other hand, when we – like the tax collector – realize the depth and darkness of our sin and come to Jesus with words like those in the old Gospel hymn: “Just as I am, without one plea – but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou biddest me come to Thee – O Lamb of God, I come, I come” or simply cry out, “Lord, have mercy!” that we will find forgiveness, restoration, and the promise of eternal life. Amen.