The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 18:9-14 “God, Make Atonement for Me, a Sinner”
August 16, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we beseech You so to guide and direct us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may not forget our sins and be filled with pride, but continue in daily repentance and renewal, seeking comfort only in the blessed knowledge that You will be merciful to us, forgive us our sins, and grant us eternal life; through Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 161)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 18th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read the verses once more in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who reveals to you His love with the giving of His life for your atonement, the taking away of your sins, and declaring you not guilty, dear fellow redeemed:
From lost to found, the price of earthly possessions, and now teachings of prayer, Jesus’ teachings are coming to a focal point as to why everything He is teaching them matters. Throughout every teaching, every parable, Jesus new teaching is nothing new. He is teaching the people where their faith must go. Every parable is about something being done or something being given to people who can’t do the task on their own. Today isn’t anything different as [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. We continue to see the battle of what is considered right and wrong. When right and wrong are given to each one of us for interpretation, it is easy to fight, rank, and compare our lives to that of others. We know there are times when we have had this sense of “pride.” Jesus is building on his previous discourses with this parable for all to see who is truly righteous. For all to see who truly should be held in contempt. As we stand before the throne of God, and know our heads can’t look up to heaven, the only thing we can look for is mercy. And the Lord says to you, “take heart, mercy has been given, a payment has been made, your sins have been atoned.”
Knowing what this cost was priced at, you might be wondering if there is anything you can give to God for this precious treasure. There is and it is thanks and trust, which is easier said than done. All it takes is one moment of extreme confidence or weakness and we can think like the Pharisee and put our trust in ourselves. He looks devoted, look at his prayer life. David writes, seven times a day I praise you for your righteousness (Psalm 119:164). He fasts very well; accept the only fasting requirement is found on only one day. Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you hall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God (Leviticus 23:27-28). Even now in modern day Judaism, they have twenty-eight days set aside for fasting. As the Pharisee hypes up fasting, what should his fasting look like? “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? (Isaiah 58:6-7)
The Pharisee gives God credit, but his confidence is in his own works. Taking all of God’s law, everything that He has commanded, Jesus teaches, they can all be summed up into two commands. Here in the temple, at a time of prayer, the Pharisee has already broken the first one. Does he break the second command as well? “God, I thank You that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Could you imagine the gall to look around a church, the place you believe the Almighty God has come into your presence, and call out someone across the aisle for people to hear? The Pharisee has put the tax collector in the same category as the other sinners he lists not because he even knows if he did something wrong, but because of his hated occupation.
The Pharisee tries to discredit the tax collector in the presence of God. This behavior is normal as we maybe have and we continue to hear from people that there should be a list of sins that shouldn’t be forgivable. To make this claim, we end up putting ourselves in the place of God. When it comes to being righteous and being right or wrong, God’s answer to us comes out of the violent storm with His Almighty judgement, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4). The mighty lose their seats, and this will happen to the Pharisees as well when Jesus says, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger” (Matthew 23:2-4). Jesus will go on to proclaim God’s judgement on their way of thinking.
We can’t add to God’s law. There is no command to fast twice a week. And this is not how we are to talk to God. Jesus even tells us this is not acceptable language for His Father. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:7-9). The Pharisee babbled on a lot longer and in the end, he is everything he says that he isn’t. We heard last week they extorted, we just heard they are unjust with their rules, and he has committed adultery putting his trust in his own works. There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth (Proverbs 30:12). We are in the presence of God and He makes it clear, without atonement and without help, our works are worthless. Our trust is weak in Him and strong in ourselves most of the time, and we must think about why we can give a glance toward heaven.
The tax collector had a massive weight on his shoulders and we don’t even know why. Jesus doesn’t reveal why. He reveals that the tax collector knew his inadequacy before God. He knew that he didn’t deserve to be in God’s presence. So, as Scripture taught him, he seeks the God who saves rather than condemns. For the fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor (Proverbs 15:33). This is the opposite to the Pharisee as pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). In fear and knowing he had fallen, he could only plead before God to forgive him. And with a concise prayer from the heart, a prayer uttered without even looking to heaven, the tax collector headed home. He headed home justified. Whatever he did that bothered him so much, he has been acquitted of it. The judge has legally declared him not guilty. Even when it feels like nothing has changed, this is what God’s judgement looks like.
He comes right to your heart, turning it from stone to flesh. He takes the worst thing you have ever done. Like the tax collector, you ask for mercy. You ask to see this mercy. To show you His mercy, make atonement, and to not be angry with you, therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (Hebrews 2:17-18). He was tempted to extort God by turning stones into bread. He was tempted with justice to trust the angels with throwing Himself off of the temple. He was tempted with adultery to worship the devil instead of the Father who already has given Him throne of heaven. He faced all of these temptations and in the end looked up to heaven to have the Father turn His face away from Him as He paid for each and every sin on the cross with His precious blood.
The Savior cried out in suffering for you so when you cry out, the Holy Spirit takes your groans to directly to God the Father Almighty. He sees your sins and says, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). And as the tax collector beat his breast in repentance, the beating of the breast occurs in one other spot. At the cross, all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts (Luke 23:48). Everyone has conspired to kill God’s suffering and righteous Messiah with sinful lives, and yet with this death, it is the death that makes atonement for all of your sins.
God has seen all of your faults, seen all of your sin, and has measured you redeemable because of a perfect sacrifice. In exultation, your measurement of yourself is still only to God’s standards and then is followed by repentance. A humble sinner looks at himself, sees his sin, is in fear of his sin, and puts his trust in the loving hands of God the Father who sent His Son to be the atonement for his sin. This sacrifice is the only way for you to have confidence in your salvation. Therefore, as John writes, little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:7-8). It is a continuous cycle and it will always be a hard road to repent of sin. No matter how hard it is to believe and no matter how we feel, when you leave here today, you trust in the Word of your Savior Jesus Christ. For in His teaching, He tells you, that you see His atonement for you with His death on the cross. You see your sins taken away. And when you leave this earth and appear before His throne, He says you are justified, you are exalted. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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