One of These is Not Like the Other

Since I have your attention today, I feel that it is my duty to share with y'all how the youth group has been going. Many of you see me each week but don’t get to hear of the fun I share with our young people. First, when I started I remember someone telling me this is such a great group of kids. They are on the quiet side and a lot of them are new to the youth group so it will be a great year of getting to know each other. Well I have only been working with them for four months and I'm here to tell you these young people are the opposite of what y'all told me. I'm not going to use any names or reveal any secrets because I have to see them on Wednesday night and I don't want any trouble.

One of the games they love to play is Hide and Seek, but in our version the person who is seeking is blind folded and there is loud music playing to level the playing field. The rules are that you cannot make noises or move from your spot, so even if you decide to stand in the middle of the room don’t move. This game is hilarious because it takes a lot of self-control that no one has in the moment. I find joy in watching them pick out the perfect hiding spot and pray that the person doesn’t come near them. Each round they hide, dance, laugh and pray they don’t get caught.  I share this with you so you can hear of the joy that fills the room and the relationships that are being built.

The Gospel of Luke is one of my favorite books, I don’t know that we can have favorites but I do. It is one of my favorites because it challenges the way that I think about the life of Christ and the life of the people around him. We have been in the book of Luke before so I will forego the background. However, I will remind us again that the gospel of Luke is written from a perspective that gives us a fuller picture of what was happening at the time, written for the outsider and includes some stories of Jesus’ life that makes no sense at times.

In the first parable of our reading, we hear Jesus tell a story about a widow and a judge. A widow who seeks justice and wants the judge to help her. But the judge who fears no one, doesn’t want anything to do with it. Yet she cries out to God that the judge would help and continues to come to the judge seeking justice. Eventually her persistence pays off and the judge offers to grant her justice.

In the second parable we encounter a pharisee and a tax collector going to the temple to pray. The Pharisee goes in to boast because of his status in the community and the tax collector simply wants God to hear him.

The parables we have heard this morning are only seen in the gospel of Luke. Both parables are focused on people who pray and on justice. Although they have different circumstances, they go to God in prayer and the outcomes are different for each person. In addition, the character of each individual is revealed in how they act and respond.  

Luke opens each parable by giving us a glimpse of why they needed to hear what Jesus was saying. In verse one he says “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” And In verse 9 he says “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt…”

So why do we need to hear these two parables today…. Because we are at a crossroad, in one direction is complacency and in the other direction is compassion and justice. I think that these two parables are paired together because they remind us that there are many ways to seek justice for a wrong that you have seen and for you self as an individual. I’ll come back to that later.

We know that we can tell a lot about a person’s character by their actions, so what do the actions of our main characters in each parable tell us?

In the first parable we have a widow and a judge. You can probably figure out pretty easily what the differences are between them but I’m here to help. First, we have a judge who we know does not fear God, nor does he respect people. So, it is safe to assume he did his own thing, did not care what other people thought of him and ultimately lived by his own rules. Remember this is just an assumption. His job is to interpret the law as he sees it and to see that he doesn’t want to respond to the widow shows he has his own agenda. His only focus is self, public perception and his own peace.

Then there is a widow, based on her context we discover that she is without a husband or a male figure to help her since she is going directly to the judge herself. Which is a big risk because women were not typically involved in public affairs, instead a man would do things on her behalf. However, for her the injustice is so great that she cries out and seeks out a judge to help her.

Two very different people. One of these is not like the other.

In the second parable we have a pharisee and a tax collector. Can you tell me the difference between these two people? Don’t worry if you can’t I looked it up for you. A pharisee is a member of the influential group of religious leaders at that time, there name means “separated one.” They believe in strict devotion to religious rituals and separation from the common sinner was the only way to please God as they prepared for the coming Christ. Yet they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah.

 A tax collector is an individual who works as a contractor for Rome to collect taxes from the people. They were savvy entrepreneurs who collected for the government and also took additional amounts from the people to fund their lifestyles. Some of them were also Jewish and were considered traitors because they took from their own people. 

Again two very different people. And again one of these is not like the other.

Both parables are straightforward in their storytelling, but hidden between the lines are things we cannot overlook. In both parables there is a place where the tide changes, where there is a shift.

In the first parable we see clearly a woman in distress, desperate for help. She is crying out, not only to God, but to the person who has the power to change things. Do you know what it means to cry out? It means to speak loudly in anguish, to go into a public space and bring attention to herself in a way that is counter culturally. Because she is a woman who should be seen and not heard, she is a woman who is supposed to take her problem to the man in her life for him to speak on her behalf. But she cannot do that and instead seeks justice for herself.

Then the judge says “…I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” Again the judge is focused on himself, if she keeps coming his reputation will be ruined.

Her cries have been heard. Her persistence has paid off.

In the second parable we have two different people, yet they both find themselves in the temple to pray. The same way we all enter the doors of the church to participate in worship, they came to the temple to offer prayers to God for the things that were on their heart. My assumption is that when you enter the temple you would be focused on yourself and God.

Then the pharisee says “God, I thank you that I am not like other people...”

But we can see that the pharisee is so concerned with the person next to him that his prayer is shaped by it. In the end his prayer is filled with attitude and distracts him from what he probably came to the temple for in the first place. And the tax collector is the one who leaves justified.

In both parables one of these is not like the other. One of these is seeking justice through God. One of these is seeking forgiveness from a compassionate God. One of these is so dedicated to seeking justice that she does the unthinkable. One of these is so in awe of God that he cannot even look up.

I said earlier in this sermon that I think these two parables remind us that there are many ways to seek justice for a wrong that you have seen and for yourself as an individual. Here’s what is on my heart and mind:

Jesus shows us two instances where the justice we are seeking either requires action or individual repentance. And within both instances they are intertwined with our relationship with God through prayer. We are told to take everything to God in prayer, that means every single thing that is on your heart.

Now I know that for some seeking justice can seem like a daunting or scary task. But it always starts from within, from a place where compassion lives. Compassion is both a human and divine quality. A quality that begins to stir something up with in us, so we can seek justice. Seeking Justice is how we have changed the world together, seeking justice is how God has taught each of us to answer the call, seeking justice is what brings the world together.

It took someone like no one else to open our eyes. It took someone like no one else to save humanity from themselves. It took someone not like others to redeem a sinful world. It took someone not like others to lead us to the one who calls us by name. It took someone not like anyone else to inspire a world to change. And that someone was Jesus Christ.

So if you leave here with nothing else leave with this:

First, find that place where compassion lives within you and listen to it. Second, spend time in prayer on purpose. Cry out to God for the things that are unjust for you and your neighbor. Third, actively seek Justice.