Pentecost 23

Pentecost 23 (Luke 18:9-14)

 “All who exalt themselves will be humbled.”

Pride perpetuates separation.

The Pharisees were good, hardworking religious people. Everyone admired the Pharisees. But no one admired the Pharisees more than the Pharisees themselves.

They did good things but they did those good things from the place of pride. They not only believed they were righteous they knew they were righteous. They also knew that everyone else was not righteous. Everyone else was wrong. They separated themselves from the unrighteous lest they be contaminated by their sin. They even separated themselves into competing subgroups each claiming to be  the one true authentic righteous as opposed to the moderately righteous.

From the place of pride they asserted their will to power. A Pharisee claimed to be an expert in any field he chose to address but particularly in the field of religious belief and religious practice. The Pharisee never doubted that he knew the best and only right way to do anything. The Pharisee never missed an opportunity to criticize, confront and condemn someone for not living up to his expectations and standards.

The Pharisee believed it was better to be right than to preserve a relationship. They were the quintessential critics. Nothing less than perfection would please them. And so, the greatest sin the Pharisee could imagine was moderation and compromise on even the smallest point.

Jesus tells a parable about the world view the Pharisee embraces. It is a world view routed in pride that revels in conflict and condescension.

The Pharisee goes to the Temple to declare his righteousness before God, man and himself. He misses his moment of grace because he believes he stands before God solid and secure in his own accomplishments.

The Pharisee does not use the occasion to stand in the Real Presence of the Divine. He uses it to exalt himself in the presence of other people. He uses the occasion to emphasize his separation from those whom he despises. As he proclaims his righteousness and the other man’s sinfulness he rejects the very essence of the Divine Nature.

The Tax Collector enters the Temple with a very different perspective. He knows he has failed to honor God and other people. He knows this because he is aware of how his actions alienate people and subvert the divinely revealed principles of worship and compassion.

The Tax Collector enters into a moment of grace through an experience of clarity. He understands that holiness is no so much about which laws to keep and how to keep them. Holiness is about relationship. It is about how we treat other people.

The Tax Collector understands that the threefold set of relationships God created human beings to enjoy are mediated through worship, compassionate service to others- especially the poor, the sick, the lonely and the outcast, and personal transformation.

The Tax Collector knows he has not lived his life in or for this threefold set of relationships. More to the point, he recognizes his failure keeps him separated from God and from other people. As the Tax Collector enters the Temple he enters into the perfect mirror of Divine love. He sees himself as a child of God distorted by sin and separation. He chooses to stand before God from the place of humility. In that place he experiences grace.

The Pharisee also comes into the Temple lost in separation from God and from other people. He also brings his own distortions of perception about God and his own distortions of behavior. As with the Tax Collector he is lost in separation. Unlike the Tax Collector, the Pharisee has through pride convinced himself he is one of the righteous elite. He has convinced himself that separation is an ultimate virtue and condemnation is the ultimate sacrament.

The parable reveals to us two basic paths through life, two fundamentally different ways of being human.

There is the way of pride which is the way of Adam. This is the way of self-exaltation. It is the assertion of the individual will to power to dominate and if necessary debase and destroy anyone who holds a different perspective or interpretation of God, nature, humanity and the self. This is the spiritual aspiration of a soul to be God.

Sadly, this is also the path of separation, sin and death. Pride will always lead to despair. In the transformation of pride into despair the prevailing emotion is fear. No one person knows everything. No one person can know the one and only right way. The Way is not a set of rules regulations and religious practices. The Way is a relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

That Way is active, dynamic, creative, spontaneous and transforming.

The Way requires recognition of our status as creatures created in the image and likeness of God. The Image and Likeness of God is revealed fully and completely in the co-eternal beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Pride perpetuates separation. Humility facilitates relationship.

Pride distorts and debases love. Humility is the unfolding path of love.

The reality of the one God is the triune relationship of eternal love which forms the very essence of the Divine.

The reality of humanity emerges in the interdependent set of relationships God created us to enjoy. Moses and the prophets are very clear. The basic unit of humanity is not the individual. The basic unit of humanity is the community. The exaltation of the individual is the assertion of pride and self-will. The humility of living in community is the way of personal love, holiness and compassion.

Pride kills relationships by insisting on getting its own way at any cost. For the Pharisee, pride manifested and took form in an arrogant disdain for other people, their opinions and their place in the community.

Jesus did not tell the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to condemn. He told the story to warn.

The warning can be expressed in a series of questions.

Where do you insist on having your own way?

How do you treat people who hold differing opinions?

Is it more important for you to be right or to preserve a relationship?

Do you desire personal transformation of your thoughts, emotions and will?

Or, are you convinced you have life the universe and everything figured out and packaged nicely in the one true exclusive detailed and uncompromising world view?

Do you seek God for who God is?

Or, do you expect God to defend your position at the expense of everyone else?

Jesus wants all people to experience the fullness of life God created us to enjoy. Pride kills through isolation and separation. Humility brings abundant and eternal life.

All who exalt themselves through pride will be humbled in isolation and despair; but, all who humble themselves in a moment of grace will be exalted in the infinite and eternal love of the Triune God of Love: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.