The Real Test of Being in God’s Presence
The Real Test of Being in God’s Presence
October 24, 2010 by Chaplain Mike
By Chaplain Mike
Sunday’s Gospel
• Luke 18:9-14OK, let’s be honest. What are you thinking after you read this famous parable about the Pharisee and the publican?
I would guess that many of us who have accepted the Gospel read this straightforward story and say in our hearts:
“Thank God I’ve escaped the sin of this proud Pharisee. Thank God he showed me the truth about myself and I humbled myself before him like this publican. Thank God I prayed ‘the sinner’s prayer.’ Thank God I’m justified.”
We identify with the humble tax-collector, not the pious, self-righteous Pharisee.
And the moment we do, we’ve fallen directly into the trap Jesus set for us here.
What an irony that it is so easy to read this parable in a self-congratulatory way! Faced with two characters, I naturally gravitate toward the one commended. I want Jesus’ approval! I want to know that, like the tax-collector, I stand justified before God. And, of course, I don’t want to have anything to do with the Pharisee. Just look at him—he prays “to himself,” he commends himself, his total focus is on himself. He is so blind that he can’t see how incongruous it is to thank God for what he imagines are his own achievements!
Thank God I’m not like that.
And the moment I utter the word, I have become the very one I detest.
Whether I identify with the Pharisee or the publican in this story, it can get me into trouble. You see, a spirit of self-justification and self-righteousness does not require that I be religious or have a spotless reputation, like the Pharisee. It only requires that I be right in my own eyes. It only requires that I see myself as approved. Publicans can think like that too.
No matter who I am, seeing myself as “right” feels pretty good. From this safe, lifted-up vantage point, as a “righteous” person I can look down on the unwashed around me, and feel good that I am not characterized by their sinful faults, poor doctrine, bad habits, and foolish choices. Or, as a sinful outsider, I can look down on the respectable folks around me and condemn them for their hypocritical religious piety, their “holier than thou” bearing, and the narrowness and legalism of their lifestyle.
So the righteous look down on sinners and thank God that they are not like them, saying “There but for the grace of God go I.” And the sinners look down on the righteous and assert they wouldn’t be caught dead being such snobs, openly suspecting it’s all a big act put on by whitewashed tombs.
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. (Rom 2:1, NRSV)
As usual, the ever-wise C.S. Lewis had his finger on the pulse of the matter here. In Mere Christianity, he wrote:
Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.
So then, how should we read this parable? We should read it looking only at Jesus. Not at the Pharisee. Not at the publican. Trying to identify with either of them in contrast to the other leads only to spiritual pride—thank God I’m not like him!—regardless of which one I’m pointing to.
But when I look at Jesus and realize that he is pointing me to God, who alone has the power to justify me—then I will take the appropriate position coram Deo (before the face of God). Comparison with others will not cross my mind. My complete attention will be on confessing the secrets of my heart to the One who is looking right through me and requiring an account. In a desperation that consumes all my energies, I will find myself crying out for his word of forgiveness and reinstatement. My concentration will become incredibly focused, not on myself, not on others, but on the One who made me, who knows me, who speaks the truth to me, who invites me to relate honestly and directly with him.
Humble myself? When God shows up, and I get a glimpse of him, I’m devastated. Comparing myself with someone else won’t even be on the radar.
Luke 18:9-14 (NASB)—
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’
“I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
-->Posted in Sermons and Devotions, Sunday's Gospel · 7 Comments
One of the best posts I have read in a long time.


