ON CONTRITION
The Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be
merciful to me, a sinner. Luke
18:13.
There are some themes which arise again and again in Holy
Scripture, in both Old and New Testaments.
When this happens it should say to us that these messages are of
particular importance.
Pay attention, O mortal man, your soul is at stake!
And you, preacher man, pay attention, your responsibility is
pressing urgent!
In today’s reading from the Gospel according to St. Luke,
there are a number of things which can be drawn out and spoken to, but the one
I want to address is summed up in one word, contrition.
That word touches upon the Christian requirement of genuine
repentance for our sins, but in some sense goes beyond it.
It incorporates that essential Christian quality of
humility, without which neither repentance nor contrition are possible because
the need for them cannot be recognised.
It is bursting with our need for God. Indeed, the absence of contrition is a very
real barrier between us and God. Without
contrition we are certainly without fear of the Lord.
In this brilliant little parable we read from Luke 18, Jesus
teaches us about that barrier, shown so vividly in the words of the
Pharisee. Jesus also teaches much about
contrition in His oh so few words about the Publican, a man so sure of his own
spiritual poverty that he hides in the shadows of the temple and casts his eyes
down to the ground. Yet he seems to be
aware that God sees into the shadows, even those shadows lurking in our own
hearts. God be merciful to me a
sinner. That cry is the
Publican’s glory and it removes any option to view him as a pathetic figure. It also turns this parable into a teaching of
abundant hope.
There was another man who was afraid to lift up his eyes for
fear of God and his story, in the Book of Exodus gives us reason enough to pay
attention to this theme of contrition.
The people of
So God calls out Moses, then a humble shepherd of no social
standing or pretensions. While keeping
his father-in-law’s sheep, Moses sees a bush burning, but not consumed by the
fire.
And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great
sight, why the bush is not burnt. And
when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the
midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.
And he said, Here am I. And He
said, draw not nigh hither: put thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place
whereon thou standest is holy ground…….and Moses hid his face for he was afraid
to look upon God. Ex.3:3-6.
Contrition is founded upon and rooted in a recognition of
the awesome nature of God. It is not
like standing on your dance partner’s foot and saying, “Oops, sorry dear!” Nor is it even like striking somebody and
apologizing for that, no matter how sincerely.
No, this contrition is deeply spiritual and embodies the
same fear of God which caused Moses to hide his face. Such fear of God is a healthy, life giving
thing.
There is another, very important point to note in these
verses from Exodus, namely the steadfastness of God. God remembers His promises, always and
forever. And if we follow those promises
through the Cross and beyond, we will see that the fear of God is not just
healthy and life giving, but is also hope filled and carries with it the dawning
of joy.
So the Psalmist could write, A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Ps.51:17.
Likewise the prophet Isaiah was moved to proclaim, For
thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of
the contrite ones. Is.57:15.
These are immensely rich promises made through the prophet;
rich enough, surely, to kindle a desire to drive out any inclination to be
puffed up with our own imagined worth.
Later Isaiah returned to this subject with even greater
emphasis. Thus saith the Lord, the
heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye
build unto me? and where is the place of
my rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my
word. Is.66:1-2.
Small wonder, then, that Jesus says of the Publican, I
tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. Our Lord’s very next words tell us that the
Pharisee, in fact, was not justified at all.
Jesus says, For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased.
In reality, we step off the narrow way of Jesus Christ the
moment we give in to the temptation to compare and contrast ourselves to
worldly men and worldly values. That is
not to say that we have nothing to learn from those around us. God sends us many messages carried by many
messengers.
But salvation through
the Cross is salvation not of this world, but from this world.
And when we understand that, we will see that there is
nothing pathetic in the figure of the Publican.
Far from it. Jesus is teaching us
of nothing less than the glory of contrition; the hope of contrition; the
fundamental honesty of sincere, deeply felt contrition.
God be merciful to me, a sinner.
There is the cry which reaches the ear of Almighty God. It is the cry of the soul seeking salvation
and an eternity in the presence of God.
It is the cry of one who has come to the realisation that his help
really does stand, entirely and only with Almighty God.
The Pharisee in this parable was talking to himself,
listening to himself and emphasizing just how far removed from God he had placed
himself.
The people of
I have not the faintest idea how God hears, but I do know
what He hears and it is the cry born of true contrition. It is the property of mercy always to respond
to that cry. That is the cry God wants
to hear, made without guile, with no affectation or pretence, rent without reservation
from the pure, unadulterated honesty of a truly broken and contrite heart.
Then, through the Grace of God, we may look, still in fear
and trembling, to the promise of Jesus Christ to the contrite, He that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.
The cry of the Publican, the cry of the genuinely contrite heart is
truly the cry of glory. God be
merciful to me, a sinner.
Peter Jardine+
Trinity XI, 2006