“Wouldn’t Want to be Like You” (Luke 18:9-14)

It is said that confession is good for the soul.  If that is true, then I must confess that I have stood where the Pharisee has stood . . . I have sized up my fellow human beings . . . and, I have dismissed them through judgment as being less than and not as worthy as me.  I have committed the sin of one-upmanship more often than I want to admit.  The bottom line of the Pharisee’s prayer is: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.  Really, thank you, God.”  For such sentiments, I stand convicted.

In fact, we are all convicted . . . we are all guilty . . . we all do it.  We size up others . . . we note what is distasteful to us . . . we compare . . . we judge, and we make statements that dismiss others as being less than good enough.

For example, politics . . . whether we are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or sick and tired of it all, we have all probably thanked God that we aren’t like those others.  Republicans are thankful they aren’t like Democrats, Democrats are thankful they aren’t like Republicans, Independents are thankful they aren’t like either one, and those who are sick and tired of it . . . well, they dismiss them all.

We do it with religion too.  As Christians we thank God, we aren’t like those other religions . . . Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, Jewish, or one of the other 4,200 religions there are in the world.   We also don’t limit ourselves to the non-Christian religions, we also thank God that we are not like other Christian denominations and faiths . . . that we aren’t like the Lutherans, Wesleyans, Catholics, or Baptists.

We thank God all the time that we are not like other people.  We do it with nationalities . . . we do it by gender . . . culture . . . community . . . education . . . wealth or lack of.  We do it with the sporting teams we support.  There probably is not a single day that goes by in any of our lives that we don’t thank God in some way that we are not like other people . . . that we don’t step into the shoes of that Pharisee and proclaim, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.”

Karoline Lewis, Professor of Preaching at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, states that “this parable calls out this sin of ours—the sin of dismissal.  The sin of one-upmanship.  The sin of appraisal and assessment before compassion.  It calls attention to that time and space between an all-too-quick evaluation and the final verdict of whether or not we deem another as one who meets the expectation we have set out.”

In hearing this parable, we want to join those who cheer on the tax collector as Jesus puts the Pharisee in his place.  Yet, at the same time we cannot escape the fact that this parable also calls to attention to those moments in our lives when we too readily judge . . . when we cave in to our expectations and standards or those of groups we belong to instead of seeing the person before us with love and generosity.  When we size up another with the assumption that our way, our faith, our politics, our culture, and our standing is somehow better.  We cannot escape the fact that in a way we are looking in a mirror.

There is something that we need to remember . . . I said it a couple of weeks ago and I paraphrase it this morning: We are only the children of God, not the only children of God.  The scriptures we hold sacred tell us that all are created in the image of God . . . all are the children of God . . . and, that we are one family.  If we truly believe this, then we must look at this parable a little differently.  Both the Pharisee and tax collector are children of God . . . both are members of the family.  God loves them equally . . . cares for them equally . . . and desires relationship with both.  In God’s eyes they are both children within the holy family.  They are both lovable and desirable.

Now, I don’t want to be seen as complaining . . . but, I notice that when I go to read our scripture lesson each week that not all of you are following along with the pew Bible . . . the New International Version.  I see that some of you are using other Bibles . . . maybe the King James Version, maybe the Revised Standard Version, or even The Message.  Hey, what’s going on here!  Don’t you guys get it?  There is only one version of the Bible and it is the one I am using . . . the others are worthless . . . they aren’t up to my standards . . . and, anyone who reads anything but the New International Version . . . well, I thank God I’m not like them.

I am kidding.  There are hundreds of versions and translations of the Bible.  Which Bible we enjoy and want to use is up to our personal preferences and likes.  It does not mean one is more correct or better than the other, it just means that there are difference preferences.  The problem comes when we decide that ours is the only way and we condemn or dismissed everything else.  All are the word of God . . . just different in how they tell the story.  No one can sanctify one’s self by comparing one’s self to another . . . God is not comparing us to others, God cares only in how we live our lives. 

Remember, we are made in the image of God.

Author Anne Lamott writes: “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”  Is this what the Pharisee did when he lifted up his “thank God I’m not like him” prayer?  Did he assume that his thoughts and feelings were God’s thoughts and feelings? 

Silly him . . . it is not the Pharisee’s job to determine another’s or even his own salvation by comparison . . . it is God’s.  All the Pharisee or we can do is to take care of our own business . . . just like the tax collector did.  The tax collector proclaims: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  In the end, it all lies in the hands of the believer.

In all honesty, none of us wants to be like anyone else.  In the end, we want to be ourselves . . . we want to be who God created us to . . . we want to be all that we can be as that image of God within us.  No one can control that except ourselves . . . that is a choice we have to make for ourselves.  Remember, God loves us for who God created us to be . . . and, God makes no junk.

In this way we must look at ourselves and others differently.  We mustn’t look at ourselves or others through the eyes of the world . . . that is a harsh and judgmental way that creates division and divisiveness . . . it creates hatred.  No, we must begin to look at ourselves and others in the same way that God looks at each of us . . . as God’s own.  We must model and live this as Jesus showed us in his life.  We should hold ourselves and others up with deep regard . . . with strong respect . . . and, a willingness to admit that we are all the children of God.  We all have a place at the table.  It is not our table, but God’s . . . and, God desires everyone to belly up.

I wouldn’t want to be like any of you . . . not because I think that I am better, or you are terrible or different.  I wouldn’t want to be like you because I want to discover who it is that God created me to be . . . because I want to embrace who I am . . . and, I want to be the best me that I can be.  I also would not want you to be like me, instead I want us to be able to walk and help each other discover who we are in the eyes of God . . . to discover our gifts, desires, and potential—as different as they might be . . . so that we might fulfill God’s will.

That is the best that we can do.  That is what God would want.  Confession is good for the soul . . . and, so we begin.  Amen.