Meditations on Lent #24
The Gospel lesson, the passage from Hosea and the Psalm which are suggested for Lenten Meditation today remind us of the danger of thinking that we are less than which often leads us to attempting to prove that we are more than. In the Gospel passage - Luke 18:9-14 - Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. The Pharisee attempts to convince the God of his understanding that he is better than the tax collector. He metaphorically beats his chest and give thanks that he is not like other people. The tax collector, on the other hand, would not even face the God of his understanding ,but asked for mercy because he knew he was a sinner. In Hosea 14:2-10, we are presented with an unrepentant Israel while the Psalmist in Psalm 5:3-4 says he is quite aware of sinful behavior and tells the God of his understanding that he is right in his verdict and justified in judging.
Once again, we the students. are reminded how silly it is to pretend that we are something other than human. No matter how hard we try to always do the next right thing we end up taking a shortcut, avoiding responsibilities, putting off some important tasks, screaming at our children because we have neglected our rest, or engaging in some other behavior which is we know is not kind or fair. We are then faced with the choice of admitting we were wrong in blaming other people, places or things. We even blame God. We might proclaim how much better we are than our neighbor. We can list his or her sins which we are obviously much greater than ours. We can also list all our good deeds as did the Pharisee even knowing that we are just attempting to prove our worth; proving that we are better than. Of course, the irony or perhaps stupidity is that we somehow posit an all-powerful, all knowing God who does not notice what we are doing. Perhaps even more importantly we are hoping we will notice our own duplicity. Not too worry. We never fool ourselves even though we may momentarily fool ourselves into thinking we are fooling ourselves. Even as we are backing away from and disconnecting from the God of our understanding we are hoping we can prove our worth and then draw close to ourselves and to the God of our understanding.
Some have suggested that self-righteousness is one of the greatest of sins because we are denying or avoiding our own humanness which leaves us alone with our pretense , alone with our “secrets”; so alone that we may then be forced to do something else to further separate us from the God of our understanding. Yet, at any time, we can present ourselves to the God of our understanding knowing that we will be welcomed home as the hymn says “just as we are”.
Written March 30, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
The Gospel lesson, the passage from Hosea and the Psalm which are suggested for Lenten Meditation today remind us of the danger of thinking that we are less than which often leads us to attempting to prove that we are more than. In the Gospel passage - Luke 18:9-14 - Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. The Pharisee attempts to convince the God of his understanding that he is better than the tax collector. He metaphorically beats his chest and give thanks that he is not like other people. The tax collector, on the other hand, would not even face the God of his understanding ,but asked for mercy because he knew he was a sinner. In Hosea 14:2-10, we are presented with an unrepentant Israel while the Psalmist in Psalm 5:3-4 says he is quite aware of sinful behavior and tells the God of his understanding that he is right in his verdict and justified in judging.
Once again, we the students. are reminded how silly it is to pretend that we are something other than human. No matter how hard we try to always do the next right thing we end up taking a shortcut, avoiding responsibilities, putting off some important tasks, screaming at our children because we have neglected our rest, or engaging in some other behavior which is we know is not kind or fair. We are then faced with the choice of admitting we were wrong in blaming other people, places or things. We even blame God. We might proclaim how much better we are than our neighbor. We can list his or her sins which we are obviously much greater than ours. We can also list all our good deeds as did the Pharisee even knowing that we are just attempting to prove our worth; proving that we are better than. Of course, the irony or perhaps stupidity is that we somehow posit an all-powerful, all knowing God who does not notice what we are doing. Perhaps even more importantly we are hoping we will notice our own duplicity. Not too worry. We never fool ourselves even though we may momentarily fool ourselves into thinking we are fooling ourselves. Even as we are backing away from and disconnecting from the God of our understanding we are hoping we can prove our worth and then draw close to ourselves and to the God of our understanding.
Some have suggested that self-righteousness is one of the greatest of sins because we are denying or avoiding our own humanness which leaves us alone with our pretense , alone with our “secrets”; so alone that we may then be forced to do something else to further separate us from the God of our understanding. Yet, at any time, we can present ourselves to the God of our understanding knowing that we will be welcomed home as the hymn says “just as we are”.
Written March 30, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
Coachpickett.org
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