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<P><STRONG><FONT face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><FONT
face="Microsoft Sans Serif"><FONT size=4>Luke
18:9-14</FONT></FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>At first sight, the theological meaning of this
story seems clear: do not boast about your accomplishments, admit that nobody is
perfect and everything will be fine. This may be the shortest theological
reflection ever written. </FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>On second sight, however, a few questions emerge.
What does it mean to confess one's sin? What does it mean to be justified?
Although the confessions of sin that are used in many worship services are
fairly generic, there is a common awareness that sin implies a breach both with
God and with our neighbors. By not moving close to the holy place and by not
looking up to heaven, the tax collector acknowledges his broken relation with
God. What about his neighbors though?</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Justification is usually interpreted as an act in
which our broken relation with God is addressed. The only discussion left, then,
is about whether justification is a formal pronouncement or whether it implies a
real change. In other words, is the sinner merely regarded as just before God in
justification (although nothing has changed), or is the sinner actually becoming
more just?</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Such reflections commonly overlook the fact that
the theological notion of justification has to do with justice, (too often, the
Greek term for justice that is used in this context is translated as
"righteousness," understood as a narrow religious category). In the context of
the Old Testament, however, justice had to do with the covenant which includes
both relations to God and to other people. In the context of the Roman Empire,
in which Luke wrote, the Christian notion of justice also had to do with the
questions of everyday life as it proclaimed an alternative justice, different
from the justice of the empire.</FONT><FONT size=2>1</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>If justification is thus seen in the context of
justice, the term takes on a broader meaning. What happens as this tax collector
is justified might very well be the same thing that happens to the tax collector
named Zacchaeus in the passage below: here, justification is not only a formal
transaction according to which someone is merely considered just before God, but
a process according to which justice is embodied and lived out in relation to
both God and neighbor.</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Furthermore, if justification is seen in the
context of justice, the confession of sin needs to be rethought as well. Is sin
merely a general reminder that nobody is perfect? A more specific understanding
of sin might help us move this discussion to the next level. What is the sin of
a tax collector in the context of the Roman Empire, the region for which he
collects taxes? What if sin had nothing to do with moral failure but with
pursuing false notions of justice: the false justice of the Empire that works in
favor of the powerful and the mighty? Again, the story of Zacchaeus gives us
some clues that point in this direction as well. In this context, justification
might mean that God's own justice begins to take the place of the Empire's
misguided justice.</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>When seen in this light, both the attitude of the
tax collector and the problem with the attitude of the Pharisee make more sense.
Judging from a moral perspective, the Pharisee may well be living a better life
than the tax collector, but the Pharisee's lack of a self-critical attitude
blunts the radical difference that God's justice seeks to make. In the context
of the Roman Empire, all need to rethink their take on the matter of justice. As
I have argued elsewhere, empires go deep, as they are not just interested in
political and economic control: they seek to shape the way we think, feel, and
even our innermost beliefs.</FONT><FONT size=2>2 </FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>In this context, the Pharisee would need to learn
not only that nobody is perfect, but how even his own well-intended performance
of the moral codes of his people might be co-opted by the powers that be. The
tax collector is closer to this insight because he appears to have an inkling of
the sinfulness of his state that may not be obvious to those who are used to
following the precepts of the Roman Empire. Consequently, neither Pharisee nor
tax collector is let off the hook easily. In the end, both Pharisee and tax
collector need to develop a more robust understanding of their sinfulness in
order join God's alternative justice. </FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>The good news is that justification and a new take
on justice appear to be possible even for tax collectors, those who are even
more closely connected to the Roman Empire's distorted notion of justice than
the Pharisees. If even the tax collector gets it, why should there not also be
hope that the pious Pharisee will eventually follow this example?</FONT></P>
<P align=justify></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Joerg Rieger </FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Wendland-Cook Professor of Constructive
Theology</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Perkins School of Theology</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>Southern Methodist University</FONT></P>
<P align=center><STRONG><FONT face=Arial><FONT
size=4>Notes</FONT></FONT></STRONG></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>1. See also Elsa Tamez, <EM>The Amnesty of Grace:
Justification by Faith from a Latin American Perspective</EM> (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1993).</FONT></P>
<P align=justify><FONT size=4>2. See Rieger, <EM>Christ and
Empire</EM>.</FONT></P>
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