Heaven is a Gift, Not a Reward

26 October 2025  Luke 18:9-14

“Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” Luke 18:13

“Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity,” the Pharisee said. Of course he couldn’t have been more wrong, because he was exactly like the rest of humanity. He thought heaven was a reward, not a gift.

There is a long-standing view to think that we can “evolve” toward the kingdom – a day fasting here, a tithe there, and little bit by little bit we become worthy of heaven. On this view the fullness of the gospel is reduced to good behavior, and is embodied in soup kitchens, food pantries and clothing drives. Jesus becomes nothing more than a great moral teacher, and heaven is a reward for being “basically good people.” What is lost on this view is what Jesus is actually offering, which is participation in the very life of God: “…that they may all be one, just as you Father are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us” (John 17:21). That requires that we all recognize that we are exactly like everybody else, and in need of radical mercy. St. Paul described it with harsh accuracy: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19). It isn’t like we don’t know what the right thing to do is. We all know that we should eat right, and exercise daily. We all know that we should pray more, read the Bible, reduce our screen time, and be more obviously Christian. We don’t have a brain power problem. We have a will power problem.

“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). We know exactly what Paul was talking about.

The devil and the tyrants of the earth, of course, are thrilled for Jesus to be just a “great moral teacher” whose demands we can meet by our good behavior. That sort of Jesus is no danger to hell because he doesn’t exist, never did. The devil and the tyrants of the earth are perfectly content to have us make small course corrections here and there because they know that small changes will never answer the mail, and “basically good people” never changed anything that needed changing. “Basically good people” are trying to change the world by understanding the problem just a little bit more. They are trying to solve will power problems with brain power.  

Will power problems are never solved by brain power. They are not solved by minor course corrections, a day of fasting here, a little tithing there. No one evolves toward Jesus any more than they cross chasms by a series of small steps. It is why Jesus used terms like “born again.” It is why our biggest days are massive events like Easter and Pentecost. God didn’t teach Israel to swim – He parted the sea.

In the paradoxical providence of God, we become solutions and threaten the devil by acts of conversion. We sinners, we tax collectors, are asking God for a sea change: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). And then God gives us His life. And then we really aren’t like other people. We are instead the hope of other people, because it is God who then lives in us, and we have that to offer others.

We are living in times when people are beginning to seek what is “other-worldly,” something that is good, true, and beautiful in ways that the world neither offers, nor even understands. People are starting to look for a sea change, looking for ways to be a sea change on behalf of others. We become part of that when we acknowledge that we are without hope until we are converted and accept the radical mercy of God.