St. Paul Lutheran Church, Minden, Nebraska
Sunday Sermon – 22nd Sunday after Pentecost – Oct. 24, 2010
“Truth Be Known! God Be Merciful!”
Text: Luke 18:13,14

When it comes to telling the truth, truth is, there are times when
telling the truth is neither easy nor simple.
The truth is, sometimes telling the truth gets me into trouble,
gets me “into hot water.” (“Yes, I’m the one. I did it.) And some-
times telling the truth gets me out of trouble, gets me “off the
hook”. (No, it wasn’t me. I didn’t do it!)
For me as a pastor there are times when telling me the truth
hurts.(“That sermon was way too long!”) And as a pastor there times
when telling me the truth helps. (“I can see that you are growing!”)
There are also times when hearing the truth or seeing the truth
or having to face the truth is hard; the truth hard to hear, hard to
accept, hard to face, hard to understand.
I’ve got what?
I’m guilty of what?
I can’t do what about it?
I’m no different than whom?
That’s what’s going on in the Gospel for this Sunday where Jesus
tells a parable involving two men who “went up into the temple to
pray, one a Pharisee & the other a tax collector.” Luke writes, Jesus
told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were
good & righteous, not sinners; not like others whom they treated with
contempt.
Now it’s true, while this parable involves making comparisons &
clearly shows the contrast between the two men and their prayers,
it’s also true, this is not a parable about making comparisons but
rather it’s a parable that puts forth the truth that God is one just
and holy God who in His steadfast love and tender mercy justifies any
& all “sinners who confess & rely totally on His grace no matter who we
are.
The question is, how do we get there? How do we learn to
say “God, be merciful to me a sinner” and say it often, say it
honestly & with genuine humility? We get there when we tune in to
what’s going on in this parable.
To the Pharisee’s credit, truth is, he told the truth. Everything
he says about himself was true.
When he says, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men,” he
really wasn’t like other men. The Pharisee had a sense of right &
wrong that was far more developed & deeply ingrained in him than in
other people.
When the Pharisee says, “I fast twice a week;” it’s true. The
Pharisees fasted on Mondays & Thursdays every week.
When he says, “I give tithes of all I possess,” he wasn’t

exaggerating. The Pharisee gave 10% of his gross, before-tax income
and not 10% of his net income, not what was left after all other
bills were paid first. That kind of giving was going beyond what the
Law of Moses called for.
When the Pharisee says, “I’m no crook,” he really wasn’t a crook.
When he says, “I am not like this filthy tax collector,” he really
wasn’t like that guy.
When the Pharisee says, “I do not commit adultery,” he really had
not committed any adultery. He was faithful to his wife.
When he says, “I am honest, I am zealous for my religion,” he
meant it and it was true. The Pharisee was a genuinely good Sabbath-
keeping man.
The truth is, when the Pharisee prayed thus & so, he was telling
the truth. One might go so far as to say he was the kind of guy
you wouldn’t mind living next door to you. A good citizen; a law-
abiding man! Religious, goes to church every Sunday! One might even
go so far as to say, if such a man & his family were to come to our
church we’d like that because he’d be here every Sunday and a good
contributor! 10% of 40/50 thousand $$$ annual income is no small
offering. The Pharisee was that kind of guy; good on the outside.
Everything he said about himself was absolutely true.
But good, right, admirable and true as all of this was, Jesus said
the man did not go home justified, did not go home right with God or
at peace with God! Why not? Because the Pharisee did not trust in
God; he did not see a need to throw himself down and beg for mercy
before God. High standards that the Pharisee set for himself and
for others to be like himself, when he stood by himself and prayed,
the Pharisee thought he was talking to God. But, truth be told,
he was talking to himself. The Pharisee didn’t really need God. He
credited all his good to himself. He trusted in himself.
What about us? On most of our money, as we have it & want it &
need it & work for it, depend on it; on most of our money, irony of
ironies, the words are printed, “In God we trust!” Do we? Really!?
How much do we truly trust God? The more involved, more complicated,
more confusing, more insecure, more threatening, more self-serving,
more self-satisfying, more self-centered life becomes, how much do we
truly trust God?
Truth be told, “trusting in God” challenges you & me with a broader
higher standard of faithfulness, truthfulness, selflessness than what
any of us are capable of as sinful human beings.
Truth be told, as sin-infected human beings, everything in our
calculating, controlling, comparing, condescending attitude toward
others comes from wanting to look good, feel good, and keep ourselves
as safe as we can while exposing ourselves as little as we can.
We might not boast about how often we pray or fast, or how much we
give, or how hard we try to be good, but in our heart of hearts we

give ourselves high marks for our ability to get things done, tell
others what to do, rationalize our judgmental attitudes, and general-
ly take care of ourselves to the point that such good and seemingly
righteous actions on our part are what bring us comfort, security &
spiritual peace.
Truth be told, this is what’s going on in this parable. When
the Pharisee prayed to God he saw his good side. He was filled with
righteousness, proud of his record, especially his fasting and
tithing. “In me and my good I trust.”
The tax collector, on the other hand, saw his bad side. To his
credit, he was truthful too. He realized his unworthiness, his
weakness, his greediness, his self-centeredness, and, hard as it was
for him to say it, he confessed, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
Standing far off & not even lifting up his eyes to heaven, God, he
confessed, I am the me that I am, and I ask you, beg you, plead with
you, be merciful to me, sinner that I am.
And the Good News is, God was, God IS merciful.
What might seem like the most unreasonable thing you & I have ever
heard is when Jesus says, “It was this tax collector who went down
to his house justified, put right with God, at one with God, at peace
with God.” Why? Because he trusted fully & completely in God! As
empty of himself and ashamed of himself as the man was, God filled
him with His pure grace & undeserved, unconditional forgiveness.
It reminds me of the prayer that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor
& theologian, imprisoned in a Nazis concentration camp & executed by
the Nazis in 1945, a prayer Bonhoeffer prayed regularly with deep
humility in which he said to God,
In me it is dark, O God, but with you, there is light.
I am lonely, but You do not leave me.
I am faint-hearted, but with You there is help.
I am restless, but with You there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with You there is patience.
I do not understand Your ways,
but You know the right way for me.
Truth be told, Bonhoeffer was not talking to God about himself,
but He was being totally honest with God, earnestly pleading with
God, trusting God.
Is that how it is with you and me??? Not talking to God about
ourselves when we pray, but being totally honest with God, earnestly
pleading with God, God, be merciful to me a sinner!
Justification; righteousness; peace with God; getting right with
God is not something we work at or we ever get good at. Good or
bad as we may be, God has done all the work; all of it! God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God shows His love for us
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Justification; righteousness; peace with God; getting right with

God is God’s free gift in and through faith in Jesus Christ.
Truth be told, if you want to know what faith is, this is a true
act of faith; this is “In God We Trust!” Be honest with God. Every
day you get up; every day you’re alive, every day as you go to work,
try to love others, get frustrated, say the wrong thing, lose your
cool, fly off handle, wrongly judge someone else; as all of that
happens even to good people, let your failures & faults be what they
are, and every day, every morning, every evening, throw yourself
surrender yourself and all your sins & short-comings to the mercy of
God, and trust that God will be merciful to you --- and you will go
home “justified”, at peace with God.
That, my dear friends, is what comes again & again from trusting
in God and not yourself.
Jesus loves us! Loves us still
Tho we’re very weak and ill.
That we might from sin be free
Bled & died upon the tree.
Yes, Jesus loves us. Yes, Jesus loves us.