For Sunday, October 27, 2013 – Luke 18:9-14
“God, thank you that I am not like other people!”
Thank you, thank you that I don’t have their lousy jobs, their difficult families, their dysfunctional personalities (bless their hearts). Thank you for making me a little lower than the angels and a little higher than everyone else. I confess that others do not live up to the callings you place on their lives as well as I am living up to mine. Thank you for who I am so that I do not have to be who they are.
A shiver just went through me! Stop! Last Sunday we were reminded to pray always, and not lose heart. Now Jesus introduces another matter — to pray with humility, conscious of self and others. Maybe the silent prayer movement came into existence because of the Pharisee’s prayer! It holds up a mirror to our own attempts, and can make us wonder if we should risk praying aloud ever again. Here is the shadow side of speaking to God — lack of humility and self-awareness, the tendency to think our prayers are righteous simply because we are praying them. Once we see this in ourselves, we then can slip into the shadow of that shadow — false humility, where we avoid talking to God ever again. “Who, me? Speak to the Maker of the Universe?! I am much too insignificant for that.”
Jesus shows us a God who does not think we are insignificant. This God longs for us and absolutely adores our awkward attempts at conversation. Lack of humility gets in our way, not God’s. We miss out on so much life when we constantly measure ourselves against others. We can get so worn out by trying to do our prayers the right way, live our lives the right way, that we stop trying. Not trying, we conclude, is better than failing. But what if we could embrace our complexity? We are both the Pharisee and the tax collector. We are followers of Jesus and miserable sinners. We fail, hallelujah! We are like other people, caught in the net of God’s mercy. We begin again, and yet again, humbled and glad to be who we are.
