"God, Be Merciful to Me a Sinner"

“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!’” (Luke 18:13 ESV)

I am reading through portions of Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion" in preparation for my last doctoral seminar. I ran across a passage that well expresses the theology of the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18 and wanted to share it with you:

"Therefore if we would make way for the call of Christ, we must put far from us all arrogance and confidence. The former is produced by a foolish persuasion of self-righteousness, when a man thinks that he has something in himself which deservedly recommends him to God; the latter may exist without any confidence in works. For many sinners, intoxicated with the pleasures of vice, think not of the judgment of God. Lying stupefied, as it were, by a kind of lethargy, they aspire not to the offered mercy. It is not less necessary to shake off torpor [sluggishness] of this description than every kind of confidence in ourselves, in order that we may haste to Christ unencumbered, and while hungry and empty be filled with his blessings. Never shall we have sufficient confidence in him unless utterly distrustful of ourselves; never shall we take courage in him until we first despond of ourselves; never shall we have full consolation in him until we cease to have any in ourselves. When we have entirely discarded all self-confidence, and trust solely in the certainty of his goodness, we are fit to apprehend and obtain the grace of God. “When,” (as Augustine says), “forgetting our own merits, we embrace the gifts of Christ, because if he should seek for merits in us we should not obtain his gifts."--Calvin (Institutes, 3.12.8)

Father, have mercy upon us for we are sinners and unfit to stand before your seat of judgment on our own. Help us trust only in Christ and in His righteousness for our hope and salvation. May this faith be found to live in us each day.

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan

Bonhoeffer on the Privilege of Christian Community

"Between the death of Christ and the Last Day it is only by a gracious anticipation of the last things that Christians are privileged to live in visible fellowship with other Christians. It is by the grace of God that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly in this world to share God's Word and sacrament. Not all Christians receive this blessing. The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible fellowship is a blessing" (Dietrich Bonheoffer, Life Together, 18).

Father, thank you for the gift of Christian fellowship. May we never cease to thank You for this gift and may we never let ourselves grow weary of or forsake the traversing of life's difficult ground together.

Grace & Peace,

Jonathan