Readings:
Sermon:
Our Gospel for Bible Sunday from Luke chapter 18, verses 9 to 14. It’s a familiar story, but one that feels strikingly relevant to our world today: the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.
Let me remind you of the scene. Two men go up to the temple to pray. One is a Pharisee - a religious leader, respected, disciplined, admired. He prays, but really, he’s giving a speech: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people… I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all I get.” He’s telling God how good he is.
Then there’s the tax collector. He stands far back, can’t even lift his eyes to heaven. His words are short, trembling, honest: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
And Jesus delivers the punchline: it’s the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who goes home justified before God.
So why does this matter for us today, in 2025, in our culture, in our communities, in our daily lives?
Well this parable isn’t just about two men long ago. It’s about us. It’s about the posture we take before God, and the posture we take in the world.
The Pharisee reminds us how easy it is to trust in ourselves. Our world tells us to project confidence, to prove our worth, to curate the perfect image. Social media thrives on it—look at me, look at my achievements, look at how well I’m doing. It’s not so different from the Pharisee’s prayer.
But Jesus is warning us: self-righteousness builds walls. The Pharisee’s prayer shut others out and left no room for God’s grace. And in our world today, we see how self-righteousness—whether in politics, culture, or even in the Church—creates division, breeds contempt, and blinds us to our need of God.
The Bible speaks against this spirit. It tells us that none of us can stand before God on our own merits. As Paul writes in Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The Pharisee may have looked good, but the tax collector, with his honest plea, was the one truly open to God.
The tax collector models something our culture desperately needs: humility. His prayer is just seven words, but they cut straight to the heart: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
In a world obsessed with power, prestige, and being right, humility looks weak. Yet Jesus says it is the humble who will be lifted up. The tax collector acknowledges his brokenness, his dependence, his need. And that honesty is the doorway to grace.
For us, humility doesn’t mean thinking less of ourselves, but thinking truthfully. It means we stop pretending we’ve got it all together and start living with openness—to God and to one another.
So what does the Bible have to say to us in our world today through this parable? It says this: God does not measure us by our performance, our public image, or our pride. God measures us by our hearts—hearts that are open, honest, and seeking mercy.
Our society prizes success stories, highlight reels, and influencers. But the Gospel tells us that God listens most closely to the quiet, broken prayers that never make it online. The widow crying out for justice, the refugee longing for safety, the teenager struggling with identity, the parent overwhelmed by responsibility—these voices matter to God. And the Church must learn to echo them, not drown them out.
This is why the Bible still speaks powerfully in today’s world. It cuts through our pretence. It humbles the proud and lifts up the lowly. It reminds us that grace is for everyone, especially those who feel furthest from it.
And so on this Bible Sunday, we’re not just celebrating a book. We’re celebrating a living word that still speaks, still convicts, still transforms. The Pharisee and the tax collector remind us that when we open the Bible, we’re not meant to walk away impressed with ourselves. We’re meant to walk away humbled, yet hopeful—because God’s mercy is greater than our fallenness.
The challenge for us, then, is to live like people of the Book. To pray honestly. To show mercy generously. To resist the temptation to look down on others, and instead to kneel alongside them, praying: “God, be merciful to us.”
Jesus ends the parable with this great reversal: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” That is the word of the Bible for today’s world. In an age of pride, it calls us to humility. In an age of judgment, it calls us to mercy. In an age of division, it calls us to grace.
So may we go from here not boasting in ourselves, but trusting in God’s mercy. May we go as people shaped by the living Word. And may we, like the tax collector, discover that the way down in humility is also the way up in grace. Amen.