The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his101/bibl04.arj/BIBL04.TXT

Text File | 1988-04-06 | 9KB | 143 lines

           LIBERATION FROM THE 'I AM NOT LIKE OTHERS' TRAP

              from LUKE 18:9-14 by REV. JEFFREY CARLSON

.    A parable is a picture story with a striking message.  Jesus used
this kind of story many times.  In the parable of the Pharisee and the
tax-collector, the two characters are easy to visualize.  On the one
hand, you have an arrogant, holier-than-thou Pharisee who thanks God
that he is not like the tax-collector.  On the other hand, you have a
contrite tax-collector who opens his soul to the mercy of God.  The
message is clear, the humble tax-collector is accepted by God and the
over confident Pharisee is not.  It is obvious, but ironic, that the
normally outcast tax-collector is the so-called "good guy" and the
religious pillar-of-the-temple Pharisee is the "bad guy."  So obvious
is this, in fact, that it would be very difficult for anyone not to
see that we are to be like the tax-collector and not like the
Pharisee.  Once we understand this message, then any re-reading of the
parable would serve as a reminder for us that we should exhibit the
proper virtues of humility before God and dependence upon his grace.
.    So then we can be glad that we are not like the Pharisee.  If you
agree with me that this is the obvious message of the text, as I
believe it is, then we're in trouble!  Because in order for us to be
glad that we are not like the Pharisee, we must BECOME like the
Pharisee who was glad that he was not like the tax-collector.  This
then is the striking message of the parable.  No matter how we read
it, we always end up being the Pharisee!  How do we get out of this
trap?  As long as we ignore our common humanity, we will never escape.
As long as we base our worth on how much better we are than others,
even certain others, we will never escape.  As long as we think God
can be indebted to us, we will never escape.  Only when we have a true
understanding of ourselves, a true regard for others, and a true trust
in God will we be set free, even as Jesus said that we shall know the
truth and the truth shall set us free.
.    When I say we need a true understanding of ourselves, I do not
mean that in the intellectual sense.  I am not trying to make
intelligence a requirement for faith.  Rather, it doesn't take a
genius to know what it is like to be human.  We build and we destroy.
We love, hate,laugh, cry, make mistakes, are happy, are sad and we
need food and shelter and acceptance.  These things and more are part
of our common humanity.  Yet the history of the human race is one
which is marked by a desire to label some people as less than human so
we may do with them what we please.  We did it to the Indians and said
they were less than human.  We did it to black Africans and said they
were less than human.  We did it to Jews and said they were less than
human.  We do it to fetuses because we say they are not yet human.
.    It is difficult for many people to admit being sinful.  I realize
that many people today have low self-esteem and a low regard for their
own worth, but it is a mistake to associate this with guilt.  Maybe
that is why some people object to having a prayer of confession in the
worship every week.  They feel it depresses an already weak self
concept.  But there is a misunderstanding here.  The tragedy of our
sinfulness is precisely so because of how valuable we are!  If you
spilled permanent ink on a third-hand rug you got at a rummage sale,
it wouldn't be such a big deal, would it?  But if you spilled
permanent ink on your brand new imported Persian rug, that would be a
different story.  Why?  Because the Persian rug is so much more
valuable.  The same is true of us.  The stain of sin is so significant
because of how valuable and irreplaceable we are!
.    But let us say that a carpet maker came by and said that he had a
way to completely remove the stain.  Would you say to the carpet
maker, "I have no stain on my rug and I am glad my rug is not like
anybody else's, especially my neighbor's next door.  I vacuum it twice
a week and never let anybody walk on it with shoes."  Or would you
say, "I spilled ink on the rug and I can't get it out.  Please help
me!"  It is confession then that opens us up to God's help.
.    Now it may be absurd to say that we are on the same moral level
as the tax-collector.  Nevertheless, we are on the same side of the
chasm which separates us from God.  As John Calvin has written,
"Whatever proficiency a man may have in the worship of God and in true
holiness, yet if he considers how far he is still deficient, there is
no other form of prayer which he can properly use than to begin with
an acknowledgment of guilt; for though some are more, and others
less, yet all are universally guilty (HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS, II, p.
206)."  Through faith and dependence upon Jesus Christ we are cleansed
of guilt.  If you feel bad about yourself don't blame God.  Remember
how valuable you must be to him that Christ would die for you.
Through his death he has wiped out the sin common to humanity.  Every
person is a person for whom Christ died.  God calls every person to
turn away from sin and step into his kingdom as new people, like
children fresh from the womb.
.    If we understand ourselves to be children of God, who, having
rejected him, now are able to be reunited with him through Christ,
this in turn will affect the way we regard others.  Our worth is
intrinsic and does not depend upon how better or worse others are.
Nevertheless, this is how most of us determine our worth.
.    In my junior high school the students were put into one of three
groups: the "A" class, the "B" class and the "C" class (which many
people cruelly called the "dummy class").  I had a friend in the "C"
class.  It turns out he had a higher I.Q. than most of the people in
the "A" class but because of an eye problem that wasn't detected until
he started high school, he had difficulty reading.  His self-image was
poor because he accepted the judgment that he belonged in the "dummy
class."
.    Sometimes when visiting someone in the hospital I will ask how he
or she is doing and he or she will answer, "I just thank God I am not
as bad off as some people, especially so-and-so down the hall!"  Now
what happens if I go visit so-and-so.  Do I say, "Hey, how ya doing?
I was just visiting somebody who was real happy that they weren't as
bad off as you!"   Do you see what is happening?  Even in the
hospital, we can be Pharisees.  In fact, it happens just about
everywhere.
.    Too often we value people because they are the fastest or the
smartest or the strongest.  But that only works if others are slower,
dumber and weaker.  The true worth of others will only be brought out
when our relationships are characterized not be comparison but common
humanity.  We must regard others as we would have them regard us.
.    The Pharisee saw God as a corporation which yields dividends for
the right investment.  The tax-collector saw God as holiness and was
compelled to lay bare his soul.  I am afraid our vision of God tends
to be like the former.  We persist in the idea that good deeds and
hard work earn us a good life and blessing from God.  But this is
practically difficult since they are many people who are good natured
and work hard that do not have material blessings.  And this is
theologically disgusting since it insults God's grace on the one hand,
and flies in the face of our Lord's command to take up our cross daily
and follow him.  This led Martin Luther and John Calvin to say that
good works are an abomination to the Lord.  But the Apostle Paul had
already indicated that when he wrote, "For by grace you have been
saved through faith...not because of works (Eph.2:8-9)."  It was the
rediscovery of that truth which led to the Reformation.  We can not
earn God's favor.  It is freely given, but bought with the blood of
Christ.  Now, of course, good works are important.  But we do them out
of thankfulness for what God alone was able to do and has done for us.
.    I have discussed the meaning of this parable with others before.
The reaction was largely one of rebuttal.  "What do you mean, you
always end up being like the Pharisee, no matter how you read the
story?  I simply refuse to be like the person who does not want to be
like the Pharisee!", they may say.  Basically, there are two choices.
You can want to be like the Pharisee or you can want to not be like
the Pharisee.  But to not want to be like the Pharisee is to become
like the Pharisee who did not want to be like the tax-collector.  The
best way out of this mess is in.  Admit that you are a Pharisee and
have a good laugh.  We are hopelessly, helplessly, without hesitancy,
all Pharisees!  See the cleverness of this parable, the trap of truth
which it springs and the mockery it makes of self righteousness.  We
get into trouble when we take our own righteousness too seriously.
Admit that you are like others and regard them in the same way Christ
regards them and you.  For we are all valuable to him and by trusting
in him we can be free to be true humanity.  Amen.

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