Salvation for the Ungodly (ie: me): A Sermon for Proper 19
I think that self-awareness might be one of the most important characteristics of Christian discipleship. The more self-aware we are, the more open we will be to receiving and embracing the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. If we believe that we are pretty much fine, why would we need God’s saving grace?
But the bottom line is – most people just aren’t that self-aware. Most of us assume that we are pretty good human beings, and that any blessings that we have received in life are for the most part well-deserved. And that line of thinking is one of the greatest heresies of Christianity.
A few years ago– it was probably during Advent – I was having a conversation with a woman about the second coming of Christ and the Last Judgment. This woman told me that she believed that when she died and came face-to-face with her maker, God would add up her good deeds and bad deeds and decide on her salvation based on that. And guided by this understanding of Christianity, this lifelong Christian has lived a long life performing good deeds, being kind to others, and loving God and love her neighbor. And because of that, she is hopeful and confident that she has secured eternal life by having more good deeds than bad deeds on her ledger.
The good news part of that story is that this delightful person has lived a wonderful, selfless, service-oriented life that has impacted many people in a positive way for many decades. Her poor theology actually contributed to making the world a better place. Worse things could happen!
The bad news part of this story is that no matter how many good deeds she has done – no matter how kind, loving, selfless and service-oriented her life has been, the truth of the matter is, she still doesn’t deserve eternal life. That is bad news for her and for all of us. Because none of us – no matter how well we act and behave - are in and of ourselves worthy of God’s saving grace and mercy. There is no amount good behavior that will earn us salvation.
But the real Good News – the gospel Good News of this story - is that in terms of this person’s salvation – or any of ours for that matter –is that Jesus is the one who earned us our salvation. Jesus did it for us on the cross.
Jesus - the worthy one, died for the unworthy. Jesus - the godly one, died for the ungodly. Jesus - the sin-free one, died for sinners. And that indeed is the great Good News of Jesus Christ. That is the great Good News for all of us here today.
But until we are self-aware enough to recognize that it is we – it is you and I – who are the unworthy, ungodly, sinners who have received this grace-filled, merciful gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, we will go about our lives in a state of self-righteous ingratitude. We will go about our lives like the Pharisee went to the temple and prayed, “God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.”
Our scripture lessons today offer a corrective to the human tendency towards a high dose of self-righteousness mixed with a low dose of self-awareness. Psalm 51 – traditionally attributed as David’s contrite response to his infidelity with Bathsheba – does an excellent job of reminding us that it is God who is in control. It is God – and only God - who has the sufficient power, mercy, and grace to offer forgiveness to David and to “make things right.”
When speaking about “making things right” – or justification – the word that Episcopal priest Fleming Rutledge likes to use is “rectify.” In Psalm 51 David recognizes that there is nothing that he himself can do to rectify the situation. It is only through God’s “mercy, loving-kindness, and great compassion” that David can be made whole again.
David doesn’t fall prey to the common heresy of believing that he was basically a good guy who just made a poor decision. He didn’t approach God and say, “I know I made a mistake, but if you add up all of my good deeds they will still outweigh all of my bad ones. So, we’re good, right?”
No. David, in his gut-wrenching despair, acknowledges that he needs to be “wash[ed] through and through from [his] wickedness and cleanse[d] from his sin.” He recognizes that the breadth and depth of his fallenness is ontological and not behavioral. As such, he recognizes that “he has been wicked from [his] birth, [and] a sinner from my mother's womb.”
And through the beautiful poetry of this psalm, David – King David no less – is falling on his knees and pleading with God for mercy. Because David knows that even though he is the great warrior king, the great anointed one who God chose to lead God’s people, he is not capable of rectifying the situation; he is not capable of saving himself. Only God can do that. As such, I personally believe that Psalm 51 is one of the most important lessons for us in all of Holy Scripture.
The Apostle Paul is similar to King David in that they both have a very low anthropology. Fleming Rutledge speaks about having a low anthropology alongside a high Christology. That is the sort of theology that I look for these days in preachers, teachers, and leaders. It is no accident that the higher one’s anthropology – meaning the more one believes that human beings are inherently good - the lower one’s Christology usually ends up being. One who has a low Christology is one who sees Jesus primarily as a good teacher and prophet, who taught us great lessons for how to live our lives. For those with a low Christology, little emphasis is placed on the divine, salvific, messianic component of Jesus’ identity, life, and ministry. After all, if we are all basically good people, who needs Chirst to save us? Needless to say, the Apostle Paul had a very high Christology, and a very low anthropology.
In his letter to Timothy, Paul is reminding not only Timothy but all who read this letter that Paul was “formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence.” The only means through which Paul can write, teach, or preach with any credibility is solely due to Christ Jesus, “who… strengthened [him] and judged [him] faithful and appointed [him] to his service. Like David, Paul wasn’t “basically a good person who made some poor choices.” He – like all of us - was a sinner from birth and saved by his faithful response to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Paul says it well when he writes to Timothy, “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-- of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.” Indeed, through the grace of Jesus Christ, Paul finally achieved a healthy balance of theological and anthropological self-awareness. And as such, he was able to receive the gift of God’s amazing grace joyfully and humbly.
Today we were given the gift of two biblical heroes – King David and the Apostle Paul – embodying for us the importance of theological and anthropological self-awareness as it relates to our Christian discipleship. We cannot lead with our own selves and our own egos. We must humbly submit to God’s never-ending, relentlessly pursuing grace, love, and mercy.
After his conversion, the only thing that Paul ever boasted about was what Jesus did for him, not what he did for Jesus. Paul knew better than to place his everlasting hope on a scale of good deeds vs. bad deeds. Paul knew that it was only God who can save us from himself and from the evil that had invaded the world in which he lived.
For the self-righteous, “I’m really a good human being who might from time to time make a poor choice” type of person, these scripture lessons and this sermon likely will be received as bad news. Quite frankly, Christianity itself is bad news for this type of person. Because the self-righteous want to be able in command and control of their own destiny. And Christian discipleship is the exact opposite of that.
But for the humble, contrite, and self-aware sinner – for the ungodly person like me - this is the best news we could ever receive. This is news of hope for the hopeless. And without Christ, I am indeed a lost, hopeless sheep aimlessly bleating in the wilderness.
I place my hope is the words that Jesus said in today’s parable, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance…and [j]ust so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
So here in this Temple, I offer the prayer of the tax collector who beat his breast and cried out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” May the heavens rejoice!