You're not able [Trinity 11; St. Luke 18:9-14]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Today, we once again hear Christ speak to us, saying,

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”

First things first. We must make this statement over and over again: when God says “you shall” or “you must”, that does not mean “you can”. Simply because God gives a command, that does not automatically give you the ability to perform the command as commanded.

However, God told Cain that if he does well, he will be accepted, so today’s Gospel is cut and dry. Don’t be a Pharisee. Don’t treat others with contempt and be humble. Ask for mercy and forgiveness for your sins. Boom. Done. Thanks Jesus. We got it. See You next week.

One problem is you didn’t finish your sentence, “Don’t be a Pharisee”. It should read, “Don’t be a Pharisee, be a ____”, if Jesus really wants to be helpful. You don’t finish the sentence, but Jesus does. Don’t be a Pharisee, be a sinner. Why? Because sinners are those people for whom Jesus has come to save and no one else.

Moving over to our Old Testament reading, we hear everyone’s favorite part of chapter 4 when Jesus says, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Repent. Its not about you.

“Doing well” means “doing as well as you were made before Adam and Eve got kicked out of Eden”, for it was then that God made all things well. The Lord is not asking for reform or commitment from Cain, He is looking for a restoration. Cain has sinned and if he continues on his current path, it will end in death.

This is because nothing is pleasing to God unless it is done in faith. Unless it is done in Christ Jesus. And without this physical faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). But just because God is pleased only with faith does not mean you can produce it, much less does God mean “the best you can do” when He says “faith”.

Living of life of faith or giving faith to please God or even producing faith within you is not what God means here. Look at how God addresses Cain. He pleads with Cain. Why are you angry? Why have you sinned? Why are you continuing to sin? With the same sort of questioning the Lord pleaded with Adam saying, “Where are you?” when He knew perfectly well where he was. The Lord is not asking Cain to work, He is asking Cain to believe.

The Lord said to Adam, “Didn’t you believe my word? Wasn’t what I gave you enough? Didn’t you think I had provided all things for you so that you have no lack?” All of that wrapped up in the words, “Where are you”.

Similarly, the Lord is asking Cain, “If you do well”, in other words “if you live who you are according to God’s Good creation” according to how God made you; in belief, there will be an uplifting. Not an acceptance, but a lifting up and away, is what God actually says in the Hebrew. What this means is that if Cain believed, there would be a lifting up and away of his sin, as God promised.

Abel offered the sacrifice in faith. Cain did not. Sin is always crouching at the door seemingly asleep. It lives just within reach of us, waiting for that moment of unbelief, which is every moment. Then it awakens and it strikes, for it is only after sinning that we feel the sting of its claws and the victory of death over us.

But the promise of God is greater. Not only did he created Cain and Abel in the same way, to contain saving faith, but He also made the same way for redemption, should they fall into sin. For there is a door between Cain and his sin. As insignificant as this might seem, once paired with the Gospel of John, it becomes of fatal importance: Jesus says, “I AM the Door.”

Like Cain, we are not allowed any sort of hint of victory if we swing aside the door and engage sin ourselves. Once sin pounces, its desire is so strong, that it devours you whole. Yet Jesus did not stop caring for and absolving Cain, even in the face of this first murder on earth. Three things given to Cain sustained him: the promise of the Seed to come, the Door, and his own mark.

Jesus Christ is the seed to come that pays for Cain’s sins, the Tax Collector’s sins, and your sins. There is no hope for the one who doesn’t believe, because he doesn’t believe he needs forgiveness. The Pharisee believes that he has already acquired the things that please God, when it is only the gift God gives that pleases, that is faith in Jesus.

The Door stands at the cross, opening and closing the gate to heaven. Cain and Abel are saved by God’s sacrifice, not their own. It matters not what or how much was on the holy Altar that day. Grace covered them both, in faith.

Cain’s mark also is a mark of grace. This may shock you, but it is consistent with the context. If God is pleading with Cain to repent, then why would He stop? Therefore the blood of Abel cries out, not for vengeance, but for mercy. Father, it says, forgive my brother for he knows not what he does. And so the Lord does it and marks Cain as His own.

St. Paul reminds us to hold fast to the Gospel that is preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, unless you don’t believe. For, of first and primary importance, Christ died for your sins and His blood speaks a better, more complete word than Abel’s, that of everlasting forgiveness.

There is no doubt that the Pharisee and Cain bring the better offering and live stricter lives, according to God’s will. But Abel, even though his offering was small and pathetic, a lamb, he brings it forward, because he believes that God will accept it no matter what, he receives justification. He and the Tax Collector do not rely on anything within them. Instead they rely on faith, freely given by Jesus.

It is only perfection that can stand in front of God: the righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees and Cain. What perfection means is that your entire being must completely conform with perfect holiness, which only happens in one place: the Body of Christ.

We must be perfect, but we are not able. Christ is perfect and able to give us His perfection and in order to receive it, all that is needed is belief. Belief that in the water and the Word, Jesus saved you. Belief that in the Word and the Supper, eating and drinking forgives sins. Belief that what Christ has done is greater than what you have and is the only thing able to save you from crouching sin.

In believing that atonement is needed; in believing that mercy is greater than sacrifice, Abel, the Tax collector, and now you return home justified. Abel returned to Christ, the tax collector to his family and you are also returned. Returned alive, not dead. It is Jesus alone Who offers the perfect sacrifice that pleases God and Jesus alone Who serves the benefits of this sacrifice for free.