For Sunday, October 23, 2016 – Luke 18:9-14
Jesus tells another parable about prayer, this one intended for those “who trust in themselves.” Immediately our attention is caught. What sort of people would bother to pray at all if they trust in themselves? Well, maybe people like you and me.
Our tendency is to shame the Pharisee, to see in him a pretentious and self-righteous quality to be shunned. But the minute we see him that way, we become like him. His prayer is not unlike some we too have uttered: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” And I’m sure his list goes on, naming plenty of other traits about himself that prove his worth and value. Don’t we, too, try to prove ourselves, afraid that if we don’t sneak our praiseworthy traits into the conversation, no one will ever notice them?
If our conversations with God tend to be mostly about ourselves, mostly about how we are doing or not doing in comparison to others, we might do well to ponder what lies beneath the words. If I am talking with the God of the universe, the source of all wisdom and compassion, perhaps I am not the most important subject. But, I argue, how can I not be at the heart of my prayer? I am in need of so many things, I am grateful for so many things, I am responsible for so many things. Do you hear me? I am, I am, I am…. How easily I forget that God and God alone is I am. God might be the better subject for my prayers.
The tax collector does not claim to know as much about God as the Pharisee knows, but the tax collector at least knows who is who. He knows he cannot grant mercy upon himself and that no comparison to others will ever wipe his slate clean. He knows who is God and who is not, who is the subject and who is the object. Jesus says, to learn who is who will not diminish our importance but exalt us to our rightful position. No longer the subject of our own prayers, or the granter of our own grace, we can be the humble recipient of God’s.
