The gospel today is a call to stand in humility before God. Luke presents us with a Pharisee as the one who sees himself justified, self-righteous and satisfied before God. In contrast he presents us with a humble tax collector saying ‘God, be merciful to me a, sinner.’
What is it in Luke that leads him to paint the Pharisee in such light? Were all Pharisees self-righteous, conceited and self-satisfied people? One could be forgiven for thinking so, sometimes, in reading the gospels. This universalising of the Pharisees in this way comes under great criticism by many scholars today. After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD the Christian and Pharisaic traditions may have come into competition for religious leadership of certain Jewish communities. Do the Pharisees not seem to be harshly and negatively dealt with in the gospels? It is unfair to portray the Pharisees in this way. We would certainly object to those who say all Church goers are hypocritical and self-righteous. Stereotyping so often helps only to reinforce our own prejudices and not to open us to the Spirit.
In the same way one might say that not all publicans and tax collectors were as humble as the one portrayed in the story of Luke. So again stereotyping should be avoided in reading the gospel.
Instead the call of Luke seems to be for authentic openness to God, the promptings of the Spirit, and the following of Christ. This is so no matter who we are. We are called to stand humbly before God and create our own story line of faith and life. The prophet Micah seems to sum it up well when he says, hear what the Lord God asks of you ‘ to live justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.’
Our world today, more than ever, is in need of communities of faith who can break down divisions among people and witness to the justice and tenderness of God in all humility.
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