Luke 18:9-14
“Humility”
October 23, 2022
This is one of those parables that feels like it may be impossible to be the person that Jesus is describing.
And perhaps that is the point.
Jesus uses two of his favorite characters in this parable, the Tax Collector and the Pharisee.
It would be natural to assume that the Pharisee is the ultimate respectable religious insider and the Tax Collector is the greedy and hurtful outsider.
But Jesus in his inimitable way turns expectations on their heads.
The Pharisee, in this parable, takes humble bragging to new heights.
His gratitude to God is epic in both its own self-congratulations on living such a religiously diligent life – going through all the motions of fasting and tithing – and he also feels the need to draw God’s attention to what he isn’t – he’s not like those he views with such disdain.
His pride in himself comes from the comparison to those he considers – and thinks God considers – less than.
In so doing he presents himself to God as so good and perfect that he is not in need of anything from God.
Not so, the Tax Collector.
He is “standing far off” and dares not even look upward toward heaven, probably standing outside the temple gates feeling that he is not worthy to be inside.
And all he wants is God’s mercy, acknowledging his own sinfulness in contrast to the Pharisee who can’t even envision that he would have any sins.
Here’s the tough part with this parable – rather than either/or maybe we are both/and.
It is of course tempting to look at the Pharisee and respond with something like, well he deserved Jesus’ judgment and then we end up with the same problem that Jesus is warning against.
Trying to be humble as a means to salvation will tie us up in knots because we then have pushed the idea of God’s grace out of the picture.
What if we were to live a generous and loving life and not attempt to earn our way into heaven.
If humility is to be not just something we strive for but what we live, we need to find a way to stop using comparison with others as a barometer of how we’re viewed in the eyes of God.
The late Frederick Buechner described it this way:
“True humility doesn’t consist of thinking ill of yourself but of not thinking of yourself much differently from the way you’d be apt to think of anybody else. It is the capacity for being no more and no less pleased when you play your own hand well than when your opponents do.”
(Wishful Thinking, 48)
In our current culture, especially during election season, it is really hard to not compare and think of our opinions and those of like-minded people and candidates as more righteous.
Spend any time watching campaign ads on television and you will hear that at least 75% percent of the time, the candidates of all stripes tearing down their opponent and pointing out all the ways that the one they’re running against is wrong.
Ours is a culture that does not place tremendous value on humility.
Think of any job interview you’ve ever had or commencement address you’ve ever sat through or any sports competition you’ve watched or been a part of – typically there is little to no value placed on humility.
And yet, Jesus is constantly encouraging those who would follow him that the path involves taking the lowest place at the banquet and that the road to greatness is to serve others.
He demonstrates this on his final night with his closest friends by kneeling in front of them and washing their dirty feet.
How do we go against the societal expectations and inevitable comparisons and live a life of complete confidence in God?
Maybe the answer lies in the next few verses after today’s reading when folks start bringing their babies and little kids to Jesus, just wanting him to touch them.
The disciples get all worked up and try to stop these parents and their children from bothering Jesus.
Jesus reminds them that it is children who have what it takes to usher in the Kingdom of God.
In little kids, what we consider play, is all about the knowledge that their parents or care givers love them and will take care of them and they are then free to live and explore joyfully.
They aren’t trying to earn love – they don’t have to.
They start with the knowledge that they are loved deeply and that frees them to be who they are without self-consciousness.
We are all God’s children, loved unconditionally, with nothing to prove to God.
Living that way, confident in that knowledge of God’s love may be the key to a kind of humility that yearns for nothing except the continuing opportunity to share that love.
Maybe instead of thinking of this parable as one of condemnation of the humble bragging Pharisee, we could consider it an invitation to receive the gift of God’s love and let that knowledge lead us through the living of our days.
Let us then offer up these words of prayer from Mark Sandlin:
Good and gracious God,
Sometimes, spiritual and moral teachings ask us to do things which can feel impossible.
Most of us, at times, have doubts and questions and negative thought about ourselves.
Sometimes it seems humanity is just wired that way.
Pride and feeling important can feel like a needed counterbalance to the way we sometimes see ourselves.
Yet we are taught to become humble, the least of these, last- to put others before ourselves, to let go of our need to be important…to let go of our need to be important – in the eyes of the world.
We are taught to redefine what “important” is, to seek out value in valuing others, to find a positive self-image in seeing others positively, to discover ourselves to be equal to others by working toward the equality of all.
Sometimes, spiritual and moral teachings ask us to do things which seem impossible…until we begin to do them.
Let us encourage and support each other as we work collectively to create a better world.
Let us be reminded that the principalities of this world do not win in the end and that the one thing that does matter in this life is each other and the love we share. Amen.
(Progressive Prayers for Progressive People, 19)