If There is One Thing I am Sure of, it's that God Can Always Surprise Us
by Joanne Leslie, Deacon, Holy Faith Church, Inglewood, CA.
October 24. 2004
Readings
Sirach 35:12-17
Psalm 84
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
Luke 18: 9-14
If there is one thing I am sure of, it's that God can always surprise us.
God surprises us in this morning's parable by preferring the tax collector over the Pharisee. It doesn't seem quite right. There is so much to admire about the Pharisee. He fasts twice a week, he gives away a tenth of his income. Unlike thieves, rogues and adulterers, we can be sure that he is a law abiding citizen.
In contrast, while we may not like tax collectors, they were deeply disliked in Greco-Roman times. These folks weren't just government employees collecting official taxes. They charged extra taxes wherever they could get away with it, just to increase their profits. They were also money lenders, and charged exorbitant interest rates. In Jesus time, tax collectors caused the economic ruin of many a poor, struggling family. And among Jews, tax collectors were viewed with special contempt because they collaborated with the Roman occupiers. It's not hard to understand why the Pharisee would say, as part of his prayers, "God I thank you that I am not like this tax collector."
But this is the problem, the Pharisee assumes that he and God look at the tax collector the same way. The Pharisee trusted in himself that he was righteous and regarded others with contempt. Jesus explains that when God looked at the two men he looked into their hearts. The tax collector recognized his own shortcomings and pleaded for God's mercy, while the Pharisee congratulated himself on his virtues. So, it was the tax collector who went home justified, not the Pharisee. Jesus warns: "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted." Focusing on our own righteousness and regarding others with contempt can get us in a lot of trouble with God.
Let me now tell you about two other men.
One is James Tramel, who was a seminarian at CDSP the same time I was. CDSP is the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, the Episcopal seminary in Berkeley. In my student directory for the year 2000-2001, we find James' name near the back. There is no photograph, but that's not too surprising. Several other students' photographs were also missing. The address listed is a little odd, though. It's just a post office box and a building number in Vacaville, California.
I'll explain in a minute, but let me tell you how I first learned about James. The year before I enrolled as a full time seminary student, I was eager to get started. So I persuaded a couple of CDSP professors to let me do some course work by correspondence. The liturgy professor (a wonderful man named Louis Weil, who has so much charisma it is a shame not to be in the same room with him) somewhat reluctantly agreed to let me take his "Introduction to Worship" course by correspondence. Louis agreed for two reasons. First, I promised to take his second year Liturgy course once I was in residence, which I did, and it was a great course. Second, he was already having the Introduction to Worship lectures taped and sent to James Tramel, so it wasn't much more trouble to make duplicate copies and send them to me. The reason that James had to do his courses by correspondence was that he was a prisoner in Vacaville State prison doing 15 years to life for murder.
Briefly, this is James' story. In the summer of 1985, he was a 17 year old student at a private military school in Santa Barbara. On this particular fateful evening, he led a group of fellow students, including his roommate, David, on a mission of revenge. They went to look for the gang who had beaten up some of their friends. Their goal was to beat up the gang members in return. They didn't find the gang. But sometime after midnight James and David got separated from the rest of the group. They came across a man named Michael Stephenson, who was homeless and sleeping in the park. They got into a fight and David stabbed Michael, who died of his wounds. Although James did not wield the weapon and later returned with some classmates to see if the injured man could be helped, the murder of Michael Stephenson was rightly considered to be a horrible crime, Both James and David were held responsible. Both got sentences of 15 years to life