Humble Faith

Sometimes, Jesus’ parables are subtle, and the application seems elusive. Other times, it hits us like a brick. We might be set up to respond to this parable in a positive and growing way. But we might also be set up to dismiss it as someone else’s problem if we aren’t careful.

None of us would ever envision praying a prayer as blatant as the Pharisee’s prayer here in this passage. It is all we can do to avoid a snort of derision when we read these words. “How dare he?” we think. What arrogance. And it is arrogant, we rightly condemn it. But don’t we also ask God to bless our accomplishments at times? Don’t we breathe a thanksgiving and “glad it’s not me” when we see the results of stupidity or immorality taking a toll? Maybe we wouldn’t stand in the sanctuary during worship and pray such prayers; at least, I would hope not. But are we any more likely to pray the tax collector’s prayer?

That would be an interesting sight if, during the prayers of the people, we all stood far off, beat our chests, and declared what sinners we were. Wouldn’t it? That wouldn’t be a service that I would want to attend regularly, to be honest.

So, if these aren’t models for our prayer life or good and bad examples, what can we grasp from this passage? Well, the first thing is that prayer is complex. Not complex, as in hard to do, but complex, as in multidimensional. Last week, we saw that the eighteenth chapter of Luke begins with the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. That’s one of those “huh?” kinds of stories because Jesus uses a negative example to tell us about God. However, a central point of the story is that prayer is something we keep doing. Prayer is a consistent behavior, not a one-off act or a last-minute grasping at straws. We are to fill ourselves up with prayer.

It is important to start with that story so that today’s story can be put into perspective. If persistence, if patterns of behavior were all that mattered, then the Pharisee would be the hero of the story. But he clearly isn’t. So, there has to be another dimension to prayer. Frequency is important, but so is intent. Or perhaps we should say, so is the spirit in which you pray. Habits can be healthy and life-giving, or they can be repetitious and empty. Or worse. A part of what determines the impact of the habit on your well-being is the intent you bring to the encounter. Jesus is contrasting a closed system of prayer - the Pharisee who was sure he had already done everything needed for righteousness and therefore didn’t really need God - to an open system - the tax collector who knew he needed everything, that his life was empty and worthless unless God would fill him.

Jesus invites us to bring a willing spirit to God in prayer. The eighteenth chapter continues with one of Jesus’ encounters with children. “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it" (Luke 18:17). So, attitude or intent is at the heart of our prayer life.

But what about the effect? “Why bother at all?” we might argue. Ah, well, here is where it gets even more complex, even more layered. If Jesus is so keen on the spirit we bring to prayer, there must be some effect that is accomplished because of that right spirit. If prayer is, at its simplest, a conversation with God, then the desired effect is a relationship - a life-giving, soul-sustaining, direction-giving, comfort-sharing, challenge-offering relationship. If that is the case, then coming to God already filled up, already righteous in our own minds, already trusting in self, provides no room for this relationship to take root and grow. But coming to God empty and needy allows room for the relationship to grow and for transformation to take place.

This is the prayer with wings, the prayer that reaches out for God and carries us into God’s presence. Jesus is trying to help us see that our intent makes all the difference. It isn’t about judgment, about God’s displeasure if we do it wrong. It is about the spiritual physics that won’t allow two “bodies” (our will and God’s will) to occupy the same space. We’ve got to make room for answers to prayer. We’ve got to begin the act of prayer with humility. That then reveals to us that we walk the journey of faith with humility. It becomes a mark of all of our relationships. It is a mark of our discipleship. We come to be filled up. We come open and empty. We come to listen and learn and grow, even as we help others grow. Together, we invite the one who can bring transformation work in us, through us, and between us. “Have mercy on me, a sinner,” we pray with joy.