In the movie, Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail, Indy tries to approach the place
where the Grail is hidden, but has to pass three tests. The clue to the first
test is, “The penitent man humbles himself
before God.” The entrance to the crypt is littered with the headless bodies
of those who had already failed in their attempt at seeking the prize of
immortality. Indy realizes, at the last
moment, that the truly sorrowful need to bow humbly before God or lose their
heads.
I think in this scene we can capture
a sense of Jesus’ parable in Luke’s Gospel.
It is God we approach with our
prayers and petitions. It is before God
that we bow; approaching on bended knee with true sorrow in our hearts. God
does not ask for a list of our accomplishments, he knows our hearts and the
sincerity of our deeds. He knows the
love in our hearts. God asks us only to seek
his mercy and love to obtain His forgiveness, with sincere and contrite hearts.
In the parable we see two people, a
Pharisee and a tax-collector. The first
an outwardly pious person who obeys the law; living within the well-defined
margins of what was expected of someone of his class. The tax-collector is a despised member of
society, the lowest of the low, a public sinner held in great contempt by the “good
people”.
The Pharisee comes into the temple,
not to ask for God’s mercy and love – seeking forgiveness – he never asks to be
forgiven, but he lists his accomplishments to show how he has obeyed all the
rules: thereby, in his mind, making him better than all others, certainly
better than the tax-collector. He isn’t
praying to God, but to the god he’s made of himself. He stands at the front,
not meek and humble before God, but self-righteously – God’s equal.
His disdain for all others
oppresses the least of God’s children.
His thoughts would translate into his actions, betraying his true heart
to God.
I have worked with victims of
domestic abuse, a form of bullying and I have seen how abusers attempt to make
themselves feel better, righteous, if you will, through the humiliation of
others. Their thinking is very much like
the Pharisee’s – focused on how good or justified they are over other people.
Meanwhile, at the back of the
temple, in a dark corner, bows the tax-collector, a sinner. He knows he’s a sinner, unjustified and
without a shred of righteousness. He is
a penitent man, bowing humbly before God. He asks God for mercy and love
without expectation. He makes no
assumptions about his position in life and where he stands in the eyes of God.
What I find surprising in this
story is the tax-collector even coming into the temple to pray, especially when
faced with the contempt of the Pharisee.
How many of our “tax-collectors” today would feel welcome to come into
church, let alone, seek God’s forgiveness.
Maybe that’s why there is great rejoicing in heaven when one ‘lost lamb’
returns to the flock.
Jesus embraces the sinner, the
tax-collector, the lost, the miserable and oppressed. He asks each of us too, - to embrace the
least of God’s children, our brothers and sisters in Christ:
- to lift up the sinner,
- to seek justice for the oppressed,
- relief for the suffering,
- And peace for the troubled.
It is in loving, with the heart of
Jesus that we bow humbly before God; seeking His mercy and forgiveness, finding
justification through doing His will and loving as we are loved – all our
sisters and brothers. ~Amen
Peace,
Deacon Don Ron
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