The Adventurous Lectionary – The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – October 23, 2022

Last updated on: October 18, 2022 at 7:36 am by Bruce Epperly

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – October 23, 2022 2022-10-18T07:36:36-04:00 Bruce Epperly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost – October 30, 2022

Joel 2:22-32; Psalm 65; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14

God have mercy! This is the beginning and end of the spiritual journey. It especially seems so as the are on important days in the life of the nation and the religious year: Election Day, Halloween and All Saints, and Reformation Day are all within two weeks. As privileged Americans, Jesus’ parable awakens us to our need for grace and generosity. The tax collector’s prayer alerts us to the dynamic interdependence of life and our constant need of grace. There are no self-made persons. No one can make on her or his own. Our righteousness is not fully the result of our own efforts but is part of the graceful interdependence of life. While we are agents in relationship with God, God is the ultimate source of our agency, creativity, and achievement. We are always “standin’ in the need of prayer,” and grace.

In Jesus’ parable, the Pharisee is to be congratulated and not castigated. Without people like him, good law-abiding citizens, society would flounder. His success, righteousness, and civic duty insure the proper functioning of the social order. The problem is his attitude. He trusts in his own righteousness and his self-congratulatory righteousness becomes a barrier between him and other people and him and God. The Pharisee is a good person in terms of his place in society, but his sense of his personal goodness prevents him from experiencing the interconnectedness of life. He can claim “I did this on my own,” “I’m a job creator,” or “I’m a successful businessman,” but what is lacking is his realization that his success is the product of the efforts of others as well as his own. His goodness, in his own mind, is laced with judgement of lesser mortals, sinners like the nearby tax collector. This attitude of independence – of moral superiority – can infect nations as well as individuals.

In contrast, the tax collector recognizes that he is an outsider and that despite his financial well-being, he doesn’t belong in polite society. He represents the oppressing and occupying Romans and is considered unclean and beyond the scope of salvation, but he needs to take care of his family. In the words of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, he is certain as he looks at his life that “I’m not ok.” He’s standing in the need of prayer and only the grace of God can restore him to wholeness. His prayer for mercy is not an admission of his unworthiness but of his imperfection. Again, in the words of Kubler-Ross, “I’m not ok and you’re not ok. But it’s ok!” Recognizing our need for grace – our complete dependence on God and the efforts of others – inspires us to claim our role as part of a world of interdependence, indeed agents of healing and transformation, where fallibility doesn’t disqualify us from vocation or meaning.

The Pharisee’s mistake was his failure to confess his common humanity. We are all in this together. He thinks he is separate from lesser mortals, sinners and foreigners, he has a special relationship to God. A plaque on a Paris hospital once read, “We are the dying taking care of the dying.” Our mortality levels the playing field and so does our need for others. Even our ethical goodness is tenuous: good people go astray and fall off the path. In the spirit of twelve step groups, our goodness and resolve is worked out one day at a time, or perhaps more realistically one moment at a time. “I am not like those sinners over there,” the Pharisee judges, full of his own goodness. But, in reality, he is like them. Caught up in the web of relatedness, our goodness depends on factors outside ourselves and not just our propriety.

The tax collector’s prayer may inspire focus on the traditional Jesus Prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, a sinner.” This can be done with a time of chanting or silent meditation focusing on the Jesus prayer.

The reading from Joel invites everyone to claim their vocation as a mystic – open to God’s inspiration and able to share God’s wisdom with others. Letting God’s healing and inspiring energy flow through your mind, body, and spirit; your cells and your soul. No one is exempt from God’s showers of blessing. No one is left out, including those we perceive as outsiders. Moreover, the scope of salvation is universal: all who call upon the name of God are saved, and that includes both Pharisees and tax collectors. God’s spirit is poured on all of us; and when we open to it, our lives are transformed.

Mystical experience, from the perspective of Joel, emerges from divine restoration. The nation will be restored, the years of the locusts will yield to abundance. No longer will there be a famine on hearing God’s world, it will be available to all.

Psalm 65 proclaims God’s abundance revealed in human life and the natural order. God, who satisfies the human heart and forgives the sinner, also clothes the world in beauty and abundance. The non-human world abounds, providing a home for humankind. Utterly dependent on God’s bounty, our calling is to give thanks, accept God’s blessings, and claim our kinship with all creation.

The author of 2 Timothy, writing in the spirit of the apostle Paul, speaks of running and now completing the race, fighting the fight, and keeping the faith. He has fulfilled his vocation; she has done what God called him to do. Yet, this is not a matter of self-congratulation but an affirmation that our gifts emerge from God’s gentle providence which richly and powerfully supports our spiritual journeys. Paul’s self-affirmation is grounded in his God-affirmation. God stood by him and gave him strength. His creativity, persistence, and wisdom are not self-made but emerge from his response to God’s call. God is with him, and will supply his deepest needs. Nothing can separate him, and us, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Savior. We can do nothing without the grace of interdependence; but with God’s grace we can do all things – we can fulfill our calling as God’s companions in enjoying and healing this good earth.
+++

Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, spiritual guide, and author of over seventy books, including THE ELEPHANT IS RUNNING: PROCESS AND OPEN AND RELATIONAL THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALISM; PROPHETIC HEALING: HOWARD THURMAN’S VISION OF CONTEMPLATIVE ACTIVISM; MYSTIC’S IN ACTION: TWELVE SAINTS FOR TODAY; WALKING WITH SAINT FRANCIS: FROM PRIVILEGE TO ACTIVISM; MESSY INCARNATION: MEDITATIONS ON PROCESS CHRISTOLOGY, and FROM COSMOS TO CRADLE: MEDITATIONS ON THE INCARNATION. He can be reached for seminars and talks at [email protected].

Uncategorized

Grace

individualism and relationship

mysticism

Previous Post

October 14, 2022

Adventurous Lectionary - The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost - October 16, 2022

Next Post

October 23, 2022 The Adventurous Lectionary - Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost - October 30, 2022

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews The Adventurous Lectionary Uncategorized

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 December 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz