Text: Jeremiah14:7-10, 19-22; 2Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
Title: I Have Fought the Good Fight!
Venue: Grace Lutheran Church; October 23, 2022; Pentecost 20
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The Apostle Paul is one we turn to
When we are looking for a model of the Christian life
He dedicated his life
To the proclamation of the gospel
A proclamation that caused him to face many dangers
To travel thousands of miles
By ship and on foot
To meet and talk with people throughout the Roman Empire
From ordinary shop keepers and slaves
To philosophers and the authorities at Rome.
His writings make up a good portion of the New Testament
So it’s no wonder we consider him a saint.
In his letters to his young friend Timothy
Paul shares his wisdom and advice
Hoping to guide Timothy in the right way to live
How to share the gospel,
How to be an evangelist
How to build up the church.
Here, in today’s reading, he speaks to Timothy
About what he has endured
And what is waiting for him beyond this life.
We can’t know for sure what Timothy’s response was to this letter
Except that he most likely went on working
He continued preaching and leading the church…
According to the guidance given by Paul.
Let’s listen to what Paul says to Timothy.
I’ll paraphrase his words in a few places:
He says, “I’m about to die.”
Why?
Because “I’ve poured out my life on the altar of God as an offering.”
“I have not just sat back and waited,”
“But I’ve been actively doing what needs to be done.”
“If I had been in a battle,”
“I would have been considered a first-class soldier.”
“If I had been in a race,”
“I would have been one of the champions.”
“Timothy, I have kept the true faith,”
“While others have actually denied Christ
By their false teaching.”
“And now, because of my righteousness,
“My reward will come:”
“I will receive from God a crown…a garland of victory”
“Believe it or not, as I faced the initial interrogations…”
“No one defended me before the authorities…”
“But never mind…”
The Lord defended me,”
“And Lord has rewarded me.”
“Look to me, Timothy. Look to me…”
“If you want to know how to succeed…’
“Look to me.”
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Jesus told this parable to those who trust in themselves:
Two men went up to the Temple to pray
One man said,
God, I thank you that I’m different from others.
Just look at the things I do:
I fast twice a week,
I give a tenth of all my income to the Temple.
I have poured myself out for you, God.
Not like this sinful man next to me.
But like a truly righteous man.
We have to admit,
That is a powerful testimony.
But what about the other man?
What did he do that day, at prayer in the Temple?
The other man simply did this:
He beat his breast,
He stared dejectedly at the ground, and said,
“God…be merciful to me…a sinner.”
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And Jesus said,
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled,”
…Including the Apostle Paul?
Yes, including the Apostle Paul.
In fact, we have in Paul the premier example
Of both types of people that Jesus speaks of:
The one who humbles himself
And the one who exalts himself
In his letter to the church at Rome
Paul says of himself, “There is no good in me.”
“I am a miserable, worthless, despicable person.”
“God help me!”
But here he says something very different to Timothy,
“Look at what I’ve done …
“I’ve done far more than others have done.”
“And as a result…”
“I’ll receive my reward…for all I’ve done.”
“I’ve used up my physical life for God
“As though it were a sacrifice on an altar.”
Let me say that again:
“I’ve used up my physical life for God
“As though it were a sacrifice on an altar.”
Does that sound at all familiar to us?
If we didn’t know that this was from Paul’s letter to Timothy,
Who might we guess had said,
“As for me…
“I am already being poured out as a sacrifice…
“And the time of my departure has come.”
This comes just about as close as possible
To Paul comparing himself to Jesus Christ.
Paul apparently couldn’t resist this comparison
He couldn’t resist the opportunity to stand up and say,
“Look at me,
See how good and righteous I am.”
“I’m not at all like those others
“Who have left me
“Who have deserted me.”
He might well have said, “Just like they deserted Jesus.”
Is this really the best example for Timothy
Is this to be our example
Yes, it is.
Paul, it turns out, is our example…
Our model…of both good and bad,
Of both righteous and unrighteous
Through the very humanness of Paul
We come to understand more clearly,
That the two men standing before the Temple in Jesus’ parable
Are not two people after all.
They are one.
They are one Paul
They are one us.
And this changes the way we understand this parable
We might have assumed that we could choose
Which path we will follow.
That we ourselves can choose to be one or the other.
To be righteous or unrighteous.
But it turns out it is not our choice after all.
We have neither the strength, nor the determination
To decide for ourselves which one we will be.
It is not that we have a choice
To be the humble, righteous tax collector
Or the self-important, self-righteous Pharisee.
No…
We are both…always.
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There is a word that we are hearing more and more these days
A word that may shake us up a little when we hear it
It reflects a world most of did not grow up in
And that we may find upsetting
And that word is non-binary.
We usually hear this word today used in relation to gender identity
Not male, not female
Neither this nor that
Non-binary
In any case, the word opens up the possibility
That there is a larger understanding of gender
Than we might have assumed
A wider acceptance of who people are, who we are
And once we are challenged to see the world in a new way
We may begin to apply this notion of being non-binary
To other parts of our life.
From our scripture today we learn that
Non-binary is the perfect word for who we are as Christians
We are non-binary people
We are people, we might say, of paradox
Whether we often think about it or not
Choosing to follow Jesus
We have entered a non-binary world
That is, neither this nor that
In fact, Paul tells us quite clearly in his letter to the Galatians
About just how radical this change is:
We are no longer: male or female
We are non-binary
We are no longer Americans or Russians or Chinese
We are non-binary
We are no longer slaver or free
We are non-binary
In fact, we are something new, something different
We are one in Christ Jesus
This non-binary nature applies to our Lord Jesus as well:
Is Jesus God? Is Jesus human? Which one are we to choose
This was an important debate in the early church
And the answer was: not one or the other
But both: completely human, completely divine
Non-binary
The kingdom of God itself has this character
When will we see the kingdom of God?
Now or in the future?
Scripture says it is now—the kingdom of God is among us
And scripture says, at the same time
It is not yet—we have to wait.
When Jesus told this parable of the two men
We thought he was giving us a choice.
Choose to be righteous or choose to be a sinner
But he was not.
It turns out, in our non-binary nature as followers of Jesus
We are both righteous and sinful at the same time.
We thought Jesus was telling us which to choose.
But he was not.
Paul says, “Look at my righteousness!”
“I pour myself out as a sacrifice.”
“It is I who will receive the crown of glory.”
Reading and listening to Paul’s words,
Is like looking into a mirror, for us:
After all, I am a good person
I choose to be a good and righteous person.
Jesus says,
None, in fact, are righteous.
We may go on thinking
That because we follow Jesus
We have chosen to be righteous
But, Jesus says,
It is then most of all
That we need to cry out, “God, be merciful to me…
A sinner.”
But Jesus promises us something:
That in this confession of weakness,
Through this admission of incompleteness,
With this declaration of our mortality
And acknowledgement of our non-binary-ness
We recognize
That it is not we,
But God alone who is righteous
And it is that righteous God
Who accepts us…in our weakness,
And in our righteousness.
In fact, it is even in the very moment that we declare,
“Thank God I’m not like the sinful man next to me.”
It is in that moment,
That the God of righteousness accepts us
Pulls us in and embraces us and loves us
It is in that very moment
In that moment of blindness
That God’s self is poured out for us
And our non-binary nature is revealed
It is in that moment that we say
God, have mercy on me, a righteous sinner
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
