Keeping up appearances

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but recently it seems that the Prime Minister has appeared on a lot more live interviews than he usually does. This week alone he did a fairly long interview with Andrew Marr on the television, he did an interview with John Humphries on the radio, and he appeared live on the news to talk about gun crime.

A cynic may of course suggest that as he approaches the end of his term as Prime Minister he is keen to put himself up to try and get as much good publicity as he can, in order to be remembered well in the future… I of course never have a cynical thought !

But whatever our thoughts on the Prime Minister there is little doubt that ‘Spin’ has become increasingly important in politics today – there is a great need for things to be well portrayed on the outside, almost regardless of the actual substance of the particular policy or incident. Appearance seems to be all important.

And the reading that we heard this evening from Luke’s gospel (18:9-14) is very much concerned with appearances. We hear Jesus telling the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector – the Pharisee is of course a very proud man. There is little doubt that he would have been one of the pillars of society - influential, respected and probably wealthy, and he knew it.

In his prayers in the Temple he thanked God that he wasn’t like other people – thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like the tax collector. He went on to inform God of the wonderful things he did – the money he gave to the Temple and the fact that he fasted twice a week.

Meanwhile the tax collector took a totally different track – he didn’t even believe that he was worthy to stand in the Temple and address God, and instead of going through the good things or the bad things that he had done, he simply laid himself open before God and said ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner ’

What a contrast in appearances – and yet these two men would have been judged very much on what they looked like and what they did. Their place in society would have been determined on these things.

When I was preparing this I looked up some stories about appearances, and I found one which isn’t particularly relevant, but I enjoyed it anyway so I thought I should include it ! A visitor to a zoo noticed one of the keepers sobbing quietly in a corner and when he asked what the matter was, he was told that an elephant had died. "Fond of him, was he?" the visitor asked. "It's not that," came the reply. "He's the chap who has to dig the grave."

Anyway perhaps a better and more appropriate story about appearances concerns Sir Christopher Wren who designed the interior of Windsor Town Hall in 1689. When he did the design he built a ceiling supported by pillars. After the Town officials had inspected the finished building, they decided the ceiling would not stay up and ordered Wren to put in some more pillars. Wren was rather upset that his judgement was being questioned and he didn't think the ceiling needed any more support, so he added four pillars that did not do anything - they don't even reach the ceiling. The optical illusion however fooled the authorities, and today the four sham pillars remain as a tourist attraction.

Appearances can be deceptive. Wren tricked the authorities in a way that many of us can trick people into seeing us as a different person from the reality – this week I was with a lady who told me how wonderful it was that Vicars these days aren’t put up on a pedestal, and they’re just normal, doing plenty of things wrong just like everybody else – I was a bit concerned about what she had seen me doing, but I think I understood her point !

Our outward appearances may mean a lot to the way we are treated, but they mean nothing at all to God, who sees the real person. There is no way that he can be tricked and he judges, not just our behaviour, but our hearts and our minds. He sees the whole person…

And this reading is a particular challenge as we begin the season of Lent, because it’s a season very much about self examination, about seeing the real us, and about trying to put our lives a bit more in line with how God wants them to be.

Coming to Church is something that I would recommend for everyone for lots of reasons, but it is actually only a very small part of what God sees of us. The Pharisee was a good man, but the fact that he knew that, had led him to become arrogant and judgemental, and for so many of us it’s very easy to look at others in the same way as he did – people who don’t come to Church, or people who don’t seem to be quite as spiritual as we are !

That arrogance and that judgemental behaviour immediately becomes a huge obstacle in our relationship with God, and it leads us to the destructive temptation of believing that we are quite good enough without anybody else’s help – and then it’s only a very small step before we start believing, perhaps sub-consciously, that we don’t even need God really.

And so as we begin this Lenten season, we must recognise our need to align ourselves, not with the Pharisee, but with the tax collector - the person who threw himself at God’s mercy, recognising that it was only God who could change him, and only God who could ultimately give him the strength to go on.

Let us pray : Lord God we approach you with our lives, not proud and conceited, but recognising our sin and your power to transform. We dedicate our lives afresh to you, praying that we may grow closer to you through this Lent season, in our thoughts and in all that we do, and praying that in all things and at all times your name may be glorified, and your kingdom extended. These things we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. AMEN