Rev. Dr. Bary R. Fleet - Pastor
October 28, 2007 – Reformation Sunday
Joel 2:23-32
2nd Timothy 4:4-6, 16-18
Luke 18:9-14

My Bad!

One afternoon a carpet layer had just finished a job.  He went outside for a smoke, and realized that he had lost his cigarettes.  After a quick, but fruitless search, he noticed a slight bump under the carpet he had just installed.  His cigarettes!

No sense pulling up the carpet for a pack of cigarettes.  So, he got out his mallet and flattened the bump.

The banging brought the woman of the house into the living room.  “Here!” she said, handing the guy his cigarettes.  I found them in the hallway.  By the way, you haven’t seen the kids’ gerbil any where have you?

Oops!  “My bad!”

We make lots of mistakes … some of them big … some of them small.  Sometimes we know we’ve made a mistake … sometimes we don’t realize it until much later.

Filming for John Wayne’s movie The Conqueror was done in Utah’s Snow Canyon – 150 miles downwind from a nuclear testing facility.  At least 92 of the 220 people working on that location contracted cancer, and more than half of them died – including John Wayne.

Oops!  My Bad!

“My Bad!”

I have never really liked this phrase … and I did some reading this week about the phrase.  Paul Slansky actually wrote a book called “My Bad:  25 Years of Public Apologies and the Appalling Behaviors that Inspired Them.”  What bothers me is that it is a way of accepting blame … but somehow we don’t actually apologize.  It is a little too flip. 

It is like saying “Yes, I know I made a mistake, but it is done now and there really isn’t anything I can do about it – so there’s no need to actually apologize, so let’s just assume I won’t do it again, get over it,  and get on with our lives.”

“You just spilled beer on my term paper!”   “Ah … my bad!”  It is like saying, “Yes, I did it, but I don’t really care.”

What we have in today’s gospel lesson is a tax collector making his prayer of confession.  For him – it is much more than “My bad!”  He is accepting responsibility for the way in which his actions, his life-style, his mentality is so out of line with the way he knows God wants him to live.

“God have mercy on me, a sinner!”  That is his entire prayer.  He doesn’t go into details about his “sins.”  He knows that, for him, it is a matter of character … something that goes beyond knowingly committing a “sin.”

We pretty much know the economic system in place then.  People would submit bids to be tax collectors.  They would tell the Roman government what they were willing to pay for the privilege of collecting taxes in a specific neighborhood.  The government would accept the payment – up front – of the highest bidder.  Then the tax collector was given free-reign to collect whatever he could … and keep the profit. 

The tax collectors tended to be Jews – taxing their own people, which is why they were so resented. 

(Interesting that Jesus actually chose one of these folks to be a part of “The Twelve.”)

Here we have this tax collector, coming to terms with the way he had dealt with his neighbors.  It made him feel ashamed of himself, and he needed, not only to confess it but, to find forgiveness.  There was something very heart-felt about his prayer.

I’m not sure we really appreciate how much Jesus tried to turn things upside down.  The last are first.  The humbled are exalted.  Wealth is a liability to salvation instead of the answer.

Today we have the picture of the religious man, the Pharisee, who really is a good man.  He comes to the church every day to pray.  He really tries to follow the 10 Commandments:  He is not a thief, a rogue, an adulterer.  He doesn’t even take advantage of people – the way the tax collector does.  He fasts.  He even tithes! 

Me … I’d like to have a congregation full of folks like this … But that’s the difference between Jesus and me (Well, ONE of the differences, anyway!)

Jesus turned things upside down … He’d rather hear a heartfelt confession than hear the prayer of someone who is proud of their spiritual life … someone who lacks humility – no matter how “good” they are.  Go figure!

So … what are some of the things that make us “sinners”? 

The failure to trust God for the days to come.  When we trust God, we get God.  When we trust ourselves we are left with ourselves!

The failure to see God in the folks around us … all of the folks around us!

Sometimes all we can see is ourselves … and we don’t even see the folks around us, let alone God in them.

Sometimes we spend way too much time noticing the faults of those around us and failure to see our own.

Our own lack of humility … thinking we know ourselves better than we do … thinking we know what is best for others.

My hope for us this week is that we can be ruthlessly honest with ourselves about our need to be connected to God.

My hope is that we can know how much God loves us … and we can be appropriately grateful, that God loves us – not because of who we are, but because of who God is. 

NOTE:  The idea for today’s sermon is credited to www.homileticsonline.com.

SERMON IN A SACK:  Magnet Pumpkins with the Pumpkin Prayer: 

Open my mind so I can learn about you.

Take all my sin away and forgive the wrong I do.

Open my eyes so your love I will see.

I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned up my nose at what you’ve given me.

Open my ears so Your Word I will hear.

Open my mouth to tell others you’re near.

Let you light shine in all I say and do!  Amen!