A Penny for Your Thoughts
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10/28/07 BentheimPenny for Your Thoughts?
So, you don’t have to answer out loud, but what were your thoughts during that video? I’ve entitled my message “Penny for Your Thoughts?” and asked you to seriously consider your inner dialogue, not because I thought you were going to lie to me, let alone to yourself, but because I think we often have thoughts about other people without really giving those thoughts any attention. So, I want to take the next few minutes with you to consider what our thoughts might have been.
To start us off, I’m going to make myself a bit vulnerable, because, in my experience, when people are asked to think about things like this, they tend to put any ideas that they think are bad or negative out of their mind until they realize they’re not the only ones with those thoughts. So, here are some of my thoughts as I watched those pictures go by. Most of the people I could lump into 3 categories. The first category could be called the best, I suppose. That category is made up of those people who seemed to be rather like myself. They looked friendly. They looked like they probably spoke the same language as me. Perhaps they were about my age… or they were cute children whom everyone could love. That was the first category in my mind. Did you have a category like that?
The second category is made up of people whom for one reason or another I see as not as good as me. Maybe they’re poor, or fat, or skinny, or of the wrong faith, or from a culture that I don’t understand. Or maybe they just didn’t look like they would have anything in common with me. And let’s face it, some of them were just scary, or grotesque. Maybe it was painful just to look at them. Maybe they were the type of people we wouldn’t like to meet up with in a dark alley. Did you have a category like this?
But then there was a third category as well. This category was people I thought were better than me. Maybe they were richer, or smarter, or prettier. Some of them just looked snooty. They looked like they wouldn’t want to talk with me, even if I wanted to talk with them. They were from a higher level of society. I just am not as good as they are. Did you have this third category?
And then, I don’t know about you, but there was one thought that I had more than any other as I put the video together. I kept thinking, “I can’t think these things. I’m putting together a sermon. I’m supposed to love everyone!” Did any of you think something like that? Did you think, “I’m not supposed to think what I’m thinking. I’m in church!” I kept thinking that over and over, but you know what, I don’t think it’s very helpful for us to deny that we have those thoughts. Maybe I’m alone in this, but I doubt it. I have thoughts about people I know I’m not supposed to have. But this evening, rather than denying that we have these thoughts. Let’s see if we can’t get at the root of WHY we have these thoughts, and see if we can’t try to change something about that.
Our passage this evening is Luke 18:9-14. I invite you to follow along if you would like.
Luke 18:9-14 (NIV)
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Here’s one of Jesus’ parables. He loved to teach with stories. And this story, the passage tells us, has a specific audience. It was directed at those “who were confident of their own righteousness ad looked down on everybody else.” OK, with that knowledge in mind, and can be sure that Jesus told this passage for someone like me. Did he tell it for someone like you? We’re used to saying, “No. I love everyone! I don’t look down on anyone!” But this evening is our chance to be honest with ourselves. Think back over those pictures. Weren’t there at least a few people whom you thought you were better than? If so, then this passage is for us.
Jesus says there were two men. Two polar opposite men. One’s a Pharisee. And you don’t have to ready much of the New Testament to realize that Jesus didn’t have the greatest opinion of Pharisees, but that wasn’t true of the greater population. Most Jews honored and respected the Pharisees. They were wise. They were wealthy. They were the movie stars of their day. Most people of the day, if they were honest with themselves, would have thought Pharisees were quite a bit better than they were. And the Pharisees, so it would seem from the story, would be quick to agree. They were better, and they knew it. Even the wording is rather egocentric. Usually we say we “prayed to God”, but the passage says this man “prayed about himself.” It’s almost surprising that he thanks God for his status. It would seem that he would think he alone was to thank for his position. But nonetheless, he thanks God, but only while placing himself on a pedestal above everyone else.
It’s easy to pick on the Pharisee, but I said earlier that I thought Jesus was probably directing this passage at me, and it’s up to you if he was directing it at you too. So do we ever pray “about ourselves?” We may be quick to answer no, but let’s think about our prayer lives for a minute. Again, I’m going to make myself vulnerable by sharing my shortcomings, but maybe you fit in this as well. I’ve been known to thank God for my intelligence (implying that others are simply not as smart as me). I’ve been known to thank God for not making me like some of the more horrible people in society. I’ve been known to bring to God’s attention just how many good things I’ve done. Looking back on it, I’m not proud of these prayers, but I’ve made them. Have you? We may be subtle at times, but do we ever suggest in our prayers that we’re better than the poor, or the pagans, or those who follow other faiths, or those who look different from us, or whose sins seem to be worse than ours. Do we ever thank God for things that, if we were really pressed, we would think was because of our own good works?
But then there’s the second man in the story. And this man, I believe, is to be modeled after for two reasons. The first is the obvious one. He comes to God with humility. He doesn’t put himself on a plane above everyone else, almost equal with God himself. He recognizes that he is a sinner and he confesses this to God.
That lesson is clear. We are to have humility. We should not think of ourselves more highly than we ought. We know that part. But I think there’s a second part here as well. Apparently, this man thought enough of himself to believe that God would listen to his prayers. He thought he had some worth. In the group of pictures earlier, do you remember the third group? It was the group of people who I thought were better than me. Next to them, I kind of look like the bottom of the barrel. But I don’t believe that’s the view God has of us or wants us to have of ourselves either. We’re made in the image of God. Men, women, young, old, red, yellow, black, white, pierced, tattooed, or clean cut. Each one of us – you, me, the man or woman next to you – the man or woman you pass on the street – we’re all made in the image of God, and as such, we all have worth in the eyes of God. We may feel like a tiny speck in the grand scheme of things sometimes, but to God, we mean everything.
So a balanced perspective seems to me to be a godly perspective when considering ourselves. But then it would also seem like a balanced perspective would be appropriate when considering other people. But as we said earlier, we may try to deny that we pigeon hole other people, that we stereotype other people, but I have a hunch that each of us, to one extent or another, is guilty of stereotyping other people.
So rather than denying it, let’s try to get at the root of it. Why do we stereotype people? I believe the simple answer is because it’s easier. If I see someone and stereotype them, I don’t have to get to know them. If they look like someone I knew before I can assume that not only do they look like that person, but they probably act like that person to. And so, if I liked that other person, I’m probably going to like this person too. But the worse assumption is that I didn’t like that other person, so I’m probably not going to like this person either. But sometimes we don’t even go this far, do we? Sometimes we’ve just been told that everyone of a certain color, or of a certain nationality, or of a certain faith, or of a certain income bracket, or in a certain weight range acts a certain way. And maybe we’ve been told it enough times or we’ve been told it by people whom we trust enough, that we don’t see any need to question the assumption. We take the assumption to be truth and thereby bypass the difficult and often messy process of actually getting to know someone.
So that’s why I stereotype. Because it’s easier. I’m making no accusations. Maybe you don’t struggle with this. But if you do struggle with stereotyping, does any of this make sense? Do you avoid relationships with people who are different because of the work it may take? Do you point out people who are different from you to show that you’re not so different yourself? I know I do. So what can we do about it?
I think the first step is the step I’ve made with you tonight. Admitting that we do indeed either elevate others above ourselves, or bring ourselves down to less than God created us to be. We can admit this and then confess it. We need to confess to God that we haven’t looked at people with his eyes. That may be the easy part. The next step may be the harder step. It’s the step that may take some work. We need to build relationships rather than excuses to avoid them. I don’t know what will be the best first step for you. Maybe it’s to take baby steps. Maybe you need to think of someone who is just a little different than yourself and try your best at befriending them. Or maybe for you the best place to start is jumping in whole-heartedly. Maybe you need to think of which group of people you might have the hardest time interacting with and try to find one person in that group to befriend. Maybe it’s a Hispanic person. Maybe it’s a black person. Maybe it’s an overweight person. Maybe it’s a skinny person. Maybe it’s a Muslim, or a Jew, or just a person from a different denomination. Whoever it is, you need to recognize that they are indeed just that – a person – just like you and me. I don’t know yet where the best place for me to start is. But I’m going to be in prayer about it. Is that a prayer you need to pray too? I invite you to watch another video, it’s much like the first, but maybe we’ll all watch it a little differently than the first time.
VIDEO
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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