The Great Equalizer

So when I was growing up, I had never heard of an imposition of ashes. I didn’t even know what that meant. And my first 10, 12 years in ministry, I suppose, never crossed my mind to do an imposition of ashes. I had a member of my congregation, her name was Jennifer, she’s been in heaven for many years now. She basically begged me to do an imposition of ashes. And she was very, very active with the congregation, super helpful, wonderful member, blessed Christian. So I very grudgingly said, all right, I’ll try it once, and let’s see how it goes with people, and let’s see how people react. And here’s what I found. I found that it was incredibly profound. Hearing those words, dust you are, and to dust you will return. As I hear those words, man does it make me think. Man does it make me think. It makes me see the reality of my own mortality. I’m gonna die someday. And why is that? It’s because I’m a sinner. Dust you are, to dust you will return forces me to see that I deserve God’s condemnation and to serve an eternity in hell. And of course, what’s true for me is just as true for each one of you. Just as I am mortal, so you are mortal. Just as I am a sinner, so you are sinners. Just as I deserve to go to hell, so you deserve to go to hell. Oh my, that’s profound. It is an incredibly great equalizer, isn’t it? That it just puts every one of us at the same level. Needing to do what? Needing to repent. That every one of us needs to come before God first of all in humility saying, Lord, I’m a mess. And then each one of us also clings in faith to Jesus who died for us and rose for us. Because you see repentance isn’t just feeling sorry over my sins, repentance is also trusting that Jesus has forgiven my sins. We’ll talk much more on that on a different Wednesday. And that is the great equalizer that all of us need to repent. The text that’s in front of us tonight helps us to see it. Jesus speaks this parable to a group of people who are confident in their own righteousness. There’s a bunch of little Greek things I’m gonna share with you tonight because the text was just cool. As usual, the Greek is stronger. To those who stood as convinced ones that they are righteous is the way the text reads. How easy it is for me to slip into that. I’m a Christian. I go to church on Sundays. I even show up on Wednesdays. Can you believe it? I even stay for two services. How easy to slip into that nonsense, isn’t it? And the Pharisee stands up to pray and the arrogance is just palpable. Oh God, I thank you that I’m not like other men, like robbers and adulterers and evildoers, or even like this tax collector. Of course, to humanize, everyone would have thought that the Pharisee was great, right? I mean, this Pharisee was upstanding. He makes a point of saying, “I fast twice a week.” God had commanded them to fast once a year. “I give a tenth of all I have.” And here he stands in the temple, very ostentatiously showing what a great believer he is. But most people would have thought he was, right? Most people would have said, “Here’s a guy who should be a pastor. “Here’s a guy who should be an elder in the church.” The tax collector, by contrast, to the eyes of the world, looked like a total mess. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were hated because they overcharged people and the extra money went into their own back pocket. And so they were becoming wealthy on the backs of the people they were collecting taxes from. But there was nothing the people could do about it. They were also working for the hated Roman government, the enemy. So not only were these guys getting wealthy on the backs of their own people, but they were traitors in the eyes of most of the people. So as people would have looked at this tax collector, this tax collector would have looked like a spiritual mess. And in fact, as the tax collector speaks his prayer, we’re told he doesn’t even lift his eyes to the heaven. Here’s the Greek. The Greek literally says he didn’t want to lift his eyes to the heavens. Why? Because that was too painful. That meant the reminder that you’d failed God, not just humans, but God. And you deserved God’s wrath. And so he didn’t even want to lift his eyes up. Steady beat on his chest. He said, “Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.” Again, Greek detail. He calls himself the sinner. He recognizes where he’s at with God. And then Jesus drops the bomb. I tell you that this one, the tax collector, went home justified, not the Pharisee. And a little Greek thing. As the Pharisee is talking to you about the tax collector, he very ostentatiously, apparently with kind of a sneer down the nose, this tax collector, hutus, is the Greek word. When Jesus talks about the tax collector, he says, “Hutus, this one, went home justified.” The one that the Pharisee despised? God said, “Yeah, that one goes home justified, “at peace with God.” And isn’t the prayer of the tax collector the prayer that every one of us needs to be praying? “Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.” The sinner. And what does God say? God says, “I do have mercy on you. “I have had mercy on you.” That’s the whole point of my son coming to this earth so that he could live, die, and rise for you so that I can show you my mercy. And tonight as I go home, I will go home at peace with God, because God has had mercy on me. And as you go home tonight, each one of you, each one of you goes home tonight at peace with God, because Jesus died for you, just as much as he died for me. And Jesus died for me, just as much as he died for you. God has had mercy on you, God has had mercy on me. And oh my, isn’t that the greatest equalizer ever? Isn’t that the greatest equalizer ever? Dust you are, the dust you will return. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. My dear child, I have had mercy upon you. Amen? And amen.