Draw the Circle Wider

Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector invites us to see ourselves more clearly and humbly. Drawing from the ministry of Father Greg Boyle and his book, Tattoos on the Heart, this sermon challenges us to let go of spiritual pride and embrace a love that draws the circle wider. We are called not to judge but to be transformed—so that our compassion expands beyond ourselves. 

This sermon reminds us that there are no outsiders to Jesus's mission, ministry, or love. It's a call to see ourselves and others through God's expansive lens of grace rather than our limited perspective of judgment. Whether you're struggling with self-acceptance or finding it hard to extend grace to others, this message offers hope and a fresh understanding of what it means to be beloved by God.

This message is for anyone seeking encouragement about God's unconditional love or wrestling with questions about judgment, grace, and acceptance in faith communities.

Sermon by Rev. Beth Demme
For more information, visit www.graymumc.org

Transcript

Todd Clark (00:00):

Today's gospel is from Luke chapter 18 verses nine through 14. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. Two men went to the temple to pray. One of Pharisee and the other attacks collector, the Pharisee standing by himself was praying. Thus God, I thank you that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give a 10th of all my income, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breasts saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted the word of God for the people of God.

Rev. Beth Demme (01:00):

Thanks be to God. Amen. All right, I want to invite you to open your imagination. I want you to picture yourself at your favorite coffee shop. You've settled in to your favorite spot to people. Watch and scroll on your phone or read your book or whatever you want to do, and the door opens and you are momentarily distracted. In walks a big guy with tattoos on his face, he joins someone sitting at a nearby table, and although you don't mean to eavesdrop, you do overhear some of their conversation. You learn that he's just finished a long stint in prison and the more he talks, the more you realize, my gosh, he's got a rap sheet longer than my resume from drug addiction to gang violence. This guy has experienced and been part of a lot of trouble. What's your gut reaction? Do you move toward him or away from him do you think?

(02:08):

I hope he doesn't cause any trouble. I hope he doesn't notice me. Do you maybe wonder, should I leave? Or maybe it's not a big guy with a tattooed face who walks in. Maybe it's a woman and just before she opens the door, you can see her through the glass storefront and you see her take out her cigarette and stomp it on the ground, mush it out with the high heel of her boot. When she comes in, you notice that her clothes, they don't quite cover enough of anything and you don't know how you know, but you know that somehow you know she is working in the world's oldest profession and she's just finished a shift in your own quiet way. Do you think something like, oh, thank God I'm not like her.

(03:07):

If so, you're not alone. This is such a universal experience that Jesus talks about it in today's parable, the parable that Todd just read for us. Jesus tells a story about two people going to the temple to pray. One prayer is polished and prideful and self-assured. The Pharisee, the religious person prays, thank you God for doing such a good job on me and in my life. Thank you that I'm not like those other lesser people. Meanwhile, the other person, a tax collector, someone who shouldn't be a hero in any first century story, he offers a different kind of prayer. His prayer is not polished. It is raw and honest and humble. He's feeling so much emotion that he pounds his chest as he prays. God be merciful to me a sinner then in case there was any doubt. Jesus says it plainly, the tax collector, the sinner got it right and the Pharisee, the good religious person got it wrong.

(04:23):

Jesus says the tax collector went home, justified, justified. It's just as if he had never sinned. Jesus says, all who exalted themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted. This was just as radical an idea in the first century as it is today. It's a great reversal of expectations. It's as if Jesus said, imagine you're in a coffee shop and there's a table filled with some nice church ladies doing a Bible study, and then there's this big guy with a tattooed face who walks in and the big guy goes home justified or imagine you're in a coffee shop and there's the table of the nice church ladies doing their Bible study and a sex walker walks in and it's her. It's the prostitute who goes home justified by choosing to lift up the tax collector. Jesus is saying, there are no outsiders.

(05:28):

There are no outsiders to Jesus's mission, ministry or love. Jesus draws the circle wider, so much wider than our comfort zones. So for us as followers of Christ, we are to include everyone who Jesus included, so there are no outsiders to our mission, our mercy, our love. And yet that's easier said than done, isn't it? The Pharisee in today's parable that's a good church person. The Pharisee held himself out as someone who loved and respected God's love and God's ways. The Pharisee was someone who should be able to not only talk the talk, but walk the walk. This is someone who knows that the law is all about loving God and loving neighbor and yet, and yet he offers an arrogant and pride-filled prayer as he snes at his neighbor, the tax collector, my friend and colleague, Sarah Miller, she's the pastor at South Shore UMC down by Tampa in Riverview, and she says, Jesus isn't just offering us two different people in this parable.

(06:46):

He is contrasting two distinct hearts and attitudes, and that contrast invites us to ask ourselves, well, what's the attitude of our hearts? Jesus offers this parable so that we can see ourselves more clearly. The uncomfortable truth is we are more like the Pharisee than we care to admit. We don't draw the circle wider. Our hearts and our attitudes sometimes cause us to look at our neighbors and see only their sinful shortcomings. And when we do that, we fail to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. What tends to happen is we judge ourselves based on our very best days and we judge others on their very worst days and their very worst seasons of life. It's a dangerous double standard and Jesus exposes it in the parable. One man, thanks God for his own goodness, and the other begs God for mercy, and Jesus says it's the second man, the one who doesn't list any achievements.

(07:59):

The one who isn't even sure he belongs in a sacred place. He's the one who goes home justified and we think, well, thank God I'm not like the Pharisee. Oops. In that moment, we are the Pharisee. I mean, the truth is we are more like the Pharisee than we want to believe. We compare, we judge, we whisper in our hearts. Thank God I'm not like them. Thank God I'm not addicted or unhoused or undocumented. Thank God I'm not broke or unemployed or mentally ill or et cetera, et cetera. Maybe we say it in a nicer way. I need to confess to you that I heard these words come up out of my heart and out of my mouth this week, but for the grace of God there go I. Now on the one hand, that's a recognition, right, that someone's in a tough situation and I could be in that same situation, not blaming them.

(08:57):

This is just a circumstance. On the other hand, that's the Pharisees prayer, isn't it? Let's be honest. We see people who are struggling and we think that's their problem. That's their fault. That's what they deserve. That's where their choices have led them, all the while forgetting that we are not justified by our choices. We're not justified because we've made the right choices in life or we've organized our life in the right way. That's not what justifies us. We are justified only by the mercy of God and mercy. It does not flow through pride. It only flows through humility. One of the most dangerous distortions of faith in our time is Christian nationalism, and I have been talking about it a lot and maybe you're getting sick of it, but I am really worried about it and it's a great example of the Pharisees prayer. The Pharisee is convinced not only that he is righteous, but that he is right.

(10:11):

And I don't mean this in a right left political scenario. I mean he believes he's right, as in he's correct. The Pharisee is convinced that he is right-minded, right behaving, right, believing, and that he believes that then gives him the right to look down on others. That's what Christian nationalism does. It says it's okay to see some as superior to others. It's not patriotism. I love America. I love being an American. I am so proud of our country and I am not a Christian nationalist because Christian nationalism isn't actually about patriotism. It's not about a healthy love of country. It's a belief system that replaces faith in God with feelings of supremacy and superiority. Christian nationalism distorts the gospel and weaponizes it, turns it into something used to dominate, divide and exclude, and then it wraps that exclusion in the language of righteousness. It tells us to prioritize and protect ourselves rather than love our neighbors.

(11:23):

It gives us permission to ignore the suffering of others because they don't fit into our definitions of faithful or deserving or they aren't American enough. But the gospel doesn't build walls like that. The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ draws the circle wider, not smaller. And there are places in our beautiful country where the circle is being drawn wider and wider through God's mercy. One example is Father Greg Boyle. I've mentioned him to you before. He's a Roman Catholic priest in Los Angeles and for over 30 years, father Boyle has worked with gang members to help them change their lives and transform their community, his ministry. Father Boyle's ministry is an example of what it looks like when someone decides to draw the circle wider, one person, one act of mercy at a time. And he has seen firsthand what happens when mercy replaces judgment.

(12:28):

Father Boyle's ministry is called homeboy Industries and the people who are part of it are called homies and homegirls, and they call him G because his first name's Gregory. So they just call him G. Three decades of ministry has shown Father Boyle G that instead of leaning into our belovedness, we tend to think that God is looking for reasons to disapprove of us. We have, he says, an overactive disapproval gland. And worse, we tend to create God in our own image and assume that God has an equally overactive disapproval gland. But he says disapproval does not seem to be part of God's DNA. God is just too busy loving us to have any time left for disappointment. The desire of God's heart is immeasurably larger than our imaginations can conjure the longing of God's to give us peace and assurance and a sense of wellbeing that only awaits our willingness to cooperate with God's limitless grace-filled generosity.

(13:44):

Recognizing that we are wholly acceptable to God is God's own truth, just waiting for us to discover it. Father Boyle says, behold the one beholding you and smiling. One of Father Boyle's homies, one of Father Boyle's homies is a man named Cesar. Now father a Boyle has known Cesar since Cesar was a little kid. By the time Cesar was 25, he'd spent more time in jail than out of it. A few years ago, he finished up a four year stint and he called Father Boyle and he said, gee, let me just cut to the cheese. Father Boyle's like cut to the cheese. I haven't heard that one before. Okay, let's cut to the cheese. Cesar said, I'm out and I'm staying on a friend's couch, but well, you see GI don't have any clothes. My lady, she left me and she burned all my clothes in some anger towards, she burned up my stuff I guess, and Father Boyle listened patiently waiting for Cesar to cut to the cheese.

(15:00):

So finally Cesar said, so I don't got no clothes. Can you help me? Sure son. Father Boyle said, I'll pick you up in a couple hours and we'll go up to JC Penney and we'll get you some clothes. So they did. Father Boyle, when he got to the apartment, he was surprised because Cesar was standing on the sidewalk and that was unusual. He's used to having to go and track down whoever he's there to pick up. But Cesar was there on time waiting for him. Now, Cesar is a big guy, fresh out of prison, swollen from lifting weights in the yard. Father Boyle said he exuded menace, but when he saw Father Boyle drive up, he started bouncing up and down in this like Ypi, Skippy, happy to see you hand clapping. Yay. Father Boyle's here. He ran to Father O Boyle and threw his arms around him, a big bear hug from a bear of a man.

(15:55):

And he said, when I saw you right now, gee, I got all happy. So they went to JC Penney and Cesar got some clothes and they got to the checkout and there was a long line and all the other customers were staring at Cesar. He's not only exuding menace, but apparently while he was in prison, he lost his volume knob. So he's talking really loud. People were trying to turn and look and see what was going on, but not really wanting to be too obvious about it. All of a sudden, Cesar saw someone he thought he knew there was a couple and they had their little boy with him, and Cesar was like, Hey, don't I know you? And the woman bends over and scoops up her son and says, no, we don't know you. And then the man kind of goes pale and stands between Cesar and his wife and says, I don't know you.

(16:46):

And Cesar goes, oh my bad. I thought you were somebody else. The couple practically ran out of the store. Cesar turned to Father Boyle and said, dang, gee, do I look that scary? And Father Boyle said, well, yes. And then they laughed. Father Boyle paid for the clothes and took Cesar back to the apartment where he was couch surfing. And before Cesar got out of the car, he said, gee, I'm scared. I'm scared to be out and be back on the street. Father Boyles said, look, son, who's got a better heart than you? And God is at the center of that great big old heart. Hang on to that. You've got what the world wants, the love of God. Cesar thanked him and left. And then at three o'clock in the morning, father Boyle's phone rang and it was Cesar. He said, apparently what every home says when they call in the middle of the night, did I wake you?

(17:53):

Father Boyle thought, but didn't say why? No, I was just waiting and hoping you'd call. He could tell that something heavy was weighing on Cesar. There was something urgent about this call. Cesar said, I got to ask you a question. Ever since I was a kid, I've seen you as my father. I have to ask you a question. And there's this long pause, gravity building in the moment, and Cesar's voice broke and he said, have I been your son, father Boyle? Didn't hesitate. Hell yeah, you have Cesar exhaled. I thought so then the tears started. Cesar's voice became enmeshed in a cadence of gentle sobbing. As he asked, then I will be your son and you will be my father and nothing will separate us. Right? That's right. Said Father Boyle. That's right. In the middle of the night, Cesar didn't discover that he had a father.

(19:11):

He discovered that he was a son worth having. God's love broke through the clouds of Cesar's fear and the crippling mess of his own history, his choices, and he felt himself beloved. There is a vastness in knowing you are a son, a daughter who is worth having, worth loving. God has an expansive view of us, and we dishonor God when we shrink that with our disapproval gland. You are a son, a daughter worth having. Do you see the Pharisee in today's parable was being ruled by his disapproval gland Cesar. He's the tax collector, finally daring to believe that he is loved. That's the kind of thing that happens when the church draws the circle wider. Not to excuse harm, but to invite healing. Not to ignore sin, but to make space for transformation. And it begins with a shift in how we see God. The Pharisee remakes God in his own image, a harsh judgmental God who keeps score and rewards superiority.

(20:33):

But as Father Boyle says, behold the one beholding you and smiling. God isn't sitting in the temple weighing resumes. God is waiting for someone to tell truth about their need for mercy. And when they do, God smiles as united Methodist. We have language for this. We believe that grace is not a one-time gift, but a way of life. John Wesley said that sanctifying grace draws us toward Christian perfection. And Christian perfection is a heart filled with love of God and love of neighbor, and that's the journey that we're on the journey of sanctification. We're not on a journey to be saved just from sin. We are on a journey to be saved for love. The Pharisee, he stops short. He thinks he's already arrived. But sanctifying grace reminds us we are always becoming, always growing, always being drawn deeper into the love of God and love for our neighbor.

(21:44):

When our hearts are being filled with God's love, the circle of our compassion can't help but get bigger friends. You can't grow in grace and shrink in empathy. I to be made. Holy is to love more widely. When you know you are loved by God, when you really know it, you will draw the circle wider because love what is love. If it's not compassion that makes our hearts grow beyond ourselves, a heart filled with love will never say, thank God I'm not like them. A heart filled with love will say, God, be merciful to us all and help me love as you love. That's the invitation today, not to perform righteousness, but to seek mercy. Not to judge, but to be transformed. Not to shrink the circle, but to draw it wider with humility, honesty, and God's love. In a few minutes, you're going to be invited to come forward during the offering. Like I said, you can put your offering in the plates and you can go to the prayer wall and put your prayer up there. And whatever you bring, just bring your heart with it, right? If you're carrying shame or judgment, fear, or a longing for mercy, just write it down and hang it on the prayer wall. Offer it to God. And as you do that, behold the one beholding you and smiling. You are a son or daughter worth having. God loves you and God is inviting you to draw the circle wider. Amen.