The
meaning of our Gospel text appears to be clear and easily
understood. Yet as I began to prepare a sermon, I found
myself
being pretty proud of my humility. Does that cancel out
humility? These questions came to my mind. Which of
the two
men are more like me? This was a very difficult
question.
What about self-esteem? Is that different from
pride? Is
pride always bad? How does one properly lift up
oneself? Or
how do you come to have self worth or self esteem? Finally,
what
is humility anyway?
How about you? With which of the two men do you
identify?
Before you discount the Pharisee, remember that Pharisees were the
religious people of that day; they were people who followed the rules
and rituals of their belief. Isn’t that what we generally
try to do? Or can you really identify with the Tax
Collector? I read in a Denver newspaper an article about a
group
of Christians who called themselves, “The Scum of the
Earth.” It sounds like the Tax Collector, but does God
really seek that from us?
Let’s skip to the second question; the first seems to just add
more questions. Pride can have negative connotations, but
what
about self-esteem? When Jesus taught the Great Commandment
about
loving God, the second commandment he said was like it:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Apparently loving
yourself is something good which helps you love others.
We’ve come to understand that often people who dislike others
intensely often are hiding a dislike of self. It seems that
it is
necessary to have some self love, to love others.
And are there not accomplishments for which one should be
proud?
We celebrated 150 years of ministry as an American Church in
Paris. Could we say that we are thankfully proud of what has
been
done in God’s Name? Accomplishments made fairly and with
great effort can elicit a feeling of pride. Certainly that is
not
bad…or is it? The question might best be asked: How
does good pride or self esteem happen?”
That leads to the next question: How do you lift yourself
up? Or how do you come by self esteem? Here we
begin to get
to the heart of the Scripture text. Notice the difference
between
the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. The Pharisee lifted
himself
up by comparing himself to others. How tempting it is to do
that! But it comes at a price. You never honestly
see
yourself as you are, and you drag others down. Remember both
you
and the other person are loved by God. We are urged by Paul
in
Scripture as he wrote to the Romans: “…I say to
everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought
to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the
measure of faith that God has assigned.”
The Tax Collector did look inside at himself and didn’t like what
he saw; this gave him the chance to deal with it. The
Pharisee
robbed himself of self understanding. He never saw himself as
he
was. It is easy to see how we fall into the Pharisee’s
trap. We live in a society that is competitive. We
are
invited to make comparisons and comparisons are made for us.
Or
if we face a problem or difficulty, what is the first
reaction?
It is so tempting to look for someone or something to blame, focusing
on the other rather than self. We are blinded to our own
involvement and kept from a solution. Genesis says this is
the
nature of sin: “Adam said, ‘The woman whom you
gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and I
ate.” Adam blames both Eve and God for giving him
Eve.
So what is humility? What is that quality of being humble
that
Scripture says exalts us? “..all who exalt themselves will
be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:14b. The words humility and human sound closely
related.
To be human is not bad, but good. (Genesis 1:27 &
31)
To be human is to be made in the Image of God. Yes, that
image is
tarnished and often unseen because it is covered by sin; but it is
still part of who we as humans are. If we are open to look at
ourselves, not comparing ourselves to others, but just looking at
ourselves, we first don’t like what we see. But when we
honestly look, we can begin to peel the cover of sin off and see the
Image of God.
The Image of God has nothing to do with what one looks like or what God
looks like. It has everything to do with who God is.
Scripture
says that God is love. There are at least aspects of that
love
that I want to share with you.
God is creative. Our creativity may be second hand
or more
like discovery, since all that we have is from God. We are
reflecting the Image of God when we are creative; but we are not
reflecting the Image of God when we are destructive.
Destructive
behavior is inhuman, not reflecting the Image of God.
God is creative, but also God is Self-Giving. It is dangerous
to
look within ourselves because we are tempted to become better on our
own by accumulating things. God made us to find the deepest
joy
in giving. Giving also reflects God’s Image.
God is forgiving. Maybe this is the toughest attribute
because we
are tempted to take over God’s role to judge and have
vengeance. God knows if we look within ourselves, we can know
we
need forgiveness and God is ready to forgive. One of the more
frightening aspects of praying the Lord’s Payer is praying:
“…forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against
us.”
Both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector were sinners. The
prayer
of a sinner is to look within one’s self, knowing that you stand
in the presence of the God of Grace.
