Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee, “convinced of his own righteousness who despised everyone else.” He is a man who believes he is unlike other commoners. He is supreme, without sin. The Pharisee is helping maintain an entire system of supremacists who force lesser men to be obedient to them. The system includes forcing lesser types to be obedient to the supreme being, Yahweh, these supreme men have invented and thus is so exactly like them. Jesus’ parable includes another man who is weak and commits sins. Unlike the Pharisee, this second man asks pardon for the sins he acknowledges he commits. The Pharisee prays in thanksgiving to his invented mirror image, “Oh God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.”
To believe we are unlike the rest of humanity is to be inside a delusion. On the personal level it is the delusion of our egoistic moments, our narcissistic thoughts. On the social level it is the delusion of chosen people, of people who believe they are saved but others are not; the delusion of nations that believe they are exceptional but others insignificant. It is the delusion we are more but, in reality, believing so makes us less. We are not more justified in making Pharisaical judgments against others and are instead less able to experience the mutual and loving relationships that form a communal life. It is in the humility of a shared common life we learn how we are like the rest of humanity and how we are unlike. May we devote ourselves to being unlike the people who spawn anger and so very like the people who share compassion. May we commit ourselves to being unlike the faults we see and so very like the forgiveness we extend. May we be unlike the emptiness our chosenness has allowed and more like the nourishment our humanity can provide. Let us be unlike the poverty our exceptionalism has spread and more like the giftedness we know we can share. Let us be unlike the violence our saved status inflicts and more like the beautiful healing we are able to create.
“Do not despair of man, and do not scold him, Who are you that you should so lightly hold him? Are you not also a man, and in your heart Are there not warlike thoughts and fear and smart? Are you not also afraid and in fear cruel, Do you not think of yourself as usual, Faint for ambition, desire to be loved, …Oh know your own heart, that heart’s not wholly evil, And from the particular judge the general, if judge you must, but with compassion see life.” (Do Not! – Stevie Smith)
Prayer: Spirit of Compassion, we rest in tender care.
Question: When do I tend to be most compassionate?
October 23, 2016 Gospel Luke 18:9-14 Thirtieth Sunday In Ordinary Time