Do You Know You?

Jesus tells a lot of stories. The Gospel of Luke has more of these stories, called parables, than the other gospels. Parables can seem simple, an obvious teaching tool, but they’re deeper than that and can invite us to wonder about so much more than that simple point they seem to make.

In Luke 18, Jesus tells a couple of stories to illustrate aspects of prayer. One, about an unjust judge facing off against a persistent widow, seems to be about being persistent - and consistent! - in prayer. But it raises the question of what prayer really is: that it’s inspiration and action, especially when it comes to justice and care for others. “Pray with your feet,” an African proverb says.

Then, Jesus tells a story about a pharisee, a leader of the temple, and a tax collector, pretty much a synonym for “sinner” in Jesus’ day, going to the temple to pray. The pharisee stands at the front by himself in his fancy ceremonial robes, raises his hands and loudly prays his thanks for not being like other people, listing the worst of the worst ending with “like that tax collector.” He performs all the right rituals and makes all the right donations, he says. The tax collector stands at a distance, head bowed, beating his chest. He simply and quietly asks for mercy because he’s a sinner. With these two contrasting examples, Jesus tells them that it’s the tax collector who goes home “justified,” or right with God: “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

The story seems to have  a pretty simple point which Jesus states clearly at the end there. And the author of Luke sets it up, just in case it wasn’t clear enough: “he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.”

But it just isn’t that simple. 

Despite our learned response that pharisees are dishonest, ungodly enemies of Jesus in the bible, that’s a generalization of a group of people who were often the most well respected holy men in the community, the guardians of the law, the keepers of the temple. That’s probably how most of the people hearing this story for the first time in the first century would have known them. And there doesn’t seem to be any indication in the story that the pharisee is saying anything that’s not true. Maybe he really is thankful not to be one of those “bad” people, maybe he does tithe and follow the letter of the ritual law.

Not tax collectors, though. They were mostly reviled and hated, known more for working with the occupying Romans and rich upper class to bleed the poor. They were often dishonest and corrupt. That’s how most of the people Jesus talked to, especially the poor, would have known them.

And that’s just it. We don’t know these characters beyond their stereotype. While that might illustrate a point about behaviour, I think it ought to raise some pretty big questions for us. Like, what is humility, and what does it mean to be authentic and true to who we are? Even, who am I?

To be truly humble is to speak from the heart and recognize who we are, beyond, or perhaps in spite of, our behaviour. God knows us for who we truly are, so when we come to God in prayer, we cannot make our relationship with God right unless we speak from the heart with honesty and sincerity. It’s the source of right relationships with each other and the world around us, too, because the same divine spirit of life that’s in us is in all creation.

And it’s not comparative, either.  I wonder how often we hear this story and think, well of course one wants to be like the tax collector. Thank goodness I’m not like that pharisee. But wait a minute.  Isn’t that just what the pharisee said?  It isn’t about the stereotype, or how he behaves or doesn’t. It’s about who we are and how we are, living out authentically and sincerely the love that’s in our heart. It’s about wondering: who am I?