Sermon: Last Sunday after Trinity – Lk 18: 9-14

Preacher:

Paul Thompson

Date:

Sunday 26th October 2025

Venue:

Guildford Cathedral

Service:

Cathedral Eucharist

26 October 2025 – Last Sunday after Trinity – Lk 18: 9-14

Today’s gospel reading brings us one of Jesus’ most powerful parables — a simple story with a deep message that speaks directly to every human heart.

Jesus tells us of two men who go up to the temple to pray.

One is a Pharisee — respected, religious, and seemingly upright.

The other is a tax collector — despised, corrupt, seen as a traitor to his people.

And yet, at the end of the story, it is the tax collector who goes home justified before God. Why?

It is because his prayer was simple:
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

A humble but honest offering of prayer. And it’s something we all need to learn as Christians perhaps ??

To digress for a moment or two……I wonder whether you have ever noticed how the most relatable and beloved characters in fictional stories, are actually the very ones who often appear to get it wrong in the first instance?

If I was to allude to the Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice I will need you to look beyond the often referred to 1990’s BBC series where the actor Colin Firth as Mr Darcy, is seen emerging from the stately fountain in his somewhat clinging sodden white cotton shirt, before standing in front of the widening innocent eyes of one Miss Elizabeth Bennett !!

For now, though, let us not be too distracted and return to the principal characters in Ms Austen’s story. Let us look to Elizabeth Bennet firstly. She appears to wholly misjudge Mr. Darcy because of his pride, while failing to see her own prejudice. He, in turn, misjudges her, because of her seemingly lower social status. They both seemingly make errors of judgement, about the other.

But what makes this story so powerful is that they both appear to grow. They change. And we love them not because they’re perfect, but because they learn to be honest about their own life’s flaws.

In a similar way, Jesus’ parable teaching today invites all of us to be honest about ourselves, a look in the mirror if you prefer.

The Pharisee in our Gospel reading prays like this:
“God, I thank you that I am not like other people.”

And then he begins to list all the things he has done right in his religious life: fasting, tithing, avoiding sin etc etc etc. And yes, we might say these are indeed good things. However, his prayer reveals something much deeper — he doesn’t really think he needs God’s mercy. He thinks that he has already earned God’s approval.

The tax collector, on the other hand, won’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He simply prays as this,
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

That’s it. No excuses. No comparisons. Just a heart laid bare before God.

And Jesus says that man — the sinner — went home justified. Forgiven. Made right with God.

This would certainly have shocked Jesus’ audience, as tax collectors were seen to be the worst of the worst in Jewish society’s eyes.

But Jesus is teaching something extremely radical here, and it is this…
Nobody is too good to not need God’s mercy, and nobody is too bad to receive it.

I think that there are two key lessons to be learnt for us all today:

1. We are not saved by our good deeds, but by God’s grace.

Of course, doing and being good matters. But it doesn’t earn us a ticket to heaven. Salvation isn’t a reward for the religious or the respectable. It’s a gift — a gift we receive when we come to God with a humble heart, knowing we need Him.

The Pharisee thought that his outward good works were going to be enough. The tax collector knew that they were not.

That’s why he was the one to ask Jesus for mercy — and that is why he then received it.

 

2. We must try never to judge others.

The Pharisee compared himself to other people: He said, “I thank you I am not like them.”

The truth is when we stand before God, He will never ask us to compare ourselves with any of our neighbours.

All God asks is that we come honestly to Him, as we are.

We will never know other people’s hearts — only God does. He sees both our weaknesses and worth. So perhaps instead of measuring ourselves against others, let’s look inward and upward. Like the tax collector, we can say, “Lord, I need You.”

Jesus ends His parable with a massive theological truth:
“All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This is a theme that runs through St Luke’s Gospel: God lifts up the humble and brings low the proud. Not to punish, but to heal. Not to shame, but to restore.

So What About Us?

Each one of us is a mixture of good and bad if we are honest with ourselves. Like Elizabeth and Darcy, like the Pharisee and the tax collector — we all have flaws, and we all have value. None of us is perfect, and are in need of God’s grace.

And the good news is that it is grace that God offers us.

A Final Thought

There’s an old rhyme that sums it up well:

There's so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us,
That it ill behoves any one of us, to talk about the rest of us.

In conclusion, let’s not spend our time comparing or competing. Let’s simply come to God — as we are — and pray:

“God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

And when we do, He will lift us up. We write our own Pride and Prejudice. Amen.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

2 Timothy 4.6-8,16-18

⁶As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

¹⁶At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! ¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18.9-14

⁹Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ¹⁰‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. ¹¹The 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. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” ¹³But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” ¹⁴I 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.’

 

 

Intercessions for the Last Sunday after Trinity

Let us pray for the Church and for the world and let us thank God for His goodness.

Leader:
Heavenly Father,
You search the heart and know us better than we know ourselves.
Grant your Church grace to walk in humility and truth.
Make us not like the Pharisee, proud of our own goodness, but like the tax collector — aware of our need and confident in your mercy.
May our worship and witness be marked by honesty, repentance, and love.

Lord Jesus Christ,
You taught that those who humble themselves will be exalted.
We pray for the leaders of the nations and all in authority.
Give them wisdom to govern with justice,
and grace to recognise both their limits and their responsibility before you.
Bring peace where there is prideful striving, and healing where there is division.

Holy Spirit, You see the hearts of all people.
Teach us never to judge our neighbours, but to see them as fellow travellers in need of grace.
Help us to grow in compassion, to put aside prejudice,
and to find Christ in the face of those we find hardest to love.

Merciful God,
We lift before you those who carry burdens of guilt, shame, or failure.
Draw near to those who feel unworthy of love —
remind them that no one is too far from your mercy.
Bring comfort to the sick, strength to the weary, and hope to the despairing.

We pray especially for… (pause for names to be said aloud or silently)

Loving Father,
We thank you for your free gift of salvation — not earned by good works, but received in faith.
Make us ever mindful that all we have and are is by your grace.
Keep us from the sin of comparison;
Instead, fix our eyes on you and teach us to say each day, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

We remember with thanksgiving those who have died in faith and now rest in your presence. (NAMES)
Grant us grace to follow in their footsteps in humility and hope.
When our journey is done, receive us with mercy, not for our merits, but for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ.

Blessing

May you know the love of God in your lives.

May you show the love of God to those around you.

May you receive from God your crown of righteousness.

And may the blessing of God almighty,

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

rest upon you and on those for whom you pray,

this day and for evermore.  Amen.