The mission of the wounded healer
One word and one word only best describes the attitude of the Pharisee in the parable we hear today. One word: contempt. The Pharisee had nothing but contempt for the tax collector. The contempt was not undeserved. Like Zacchaeus two Sundays ago, being a tax collector in Jewish society under Roman control was a contemptuous job. Tax collectors were among the most hated men in Jewish society, because they collected taxes for Rome and usually taxed the people much more than Rome required and pocketed the extra money. So they were rich on the backs of the poor. Like I said, it was a contemptuous job to be a tax collector, a publican. And yet, Jesus declared this man “justified” – made right with God – rather than the Pharisee! How can this be?
God does not judge by human standards. God looks deeper. God looks at our words and our attitudes. Though contempt is all the publican deserved, he gets no contempt from God. Why? Because he asked for mercy! Just that. While the Pharisee stood up front in the Temple and bragged about himself and thanked God for not being like others, the tax collector stood in the back, bowed down with awareness of his own sins. How did he come to see himself as a sinner and to ask for God’s mercy? Jesus doesn’t tell us, because it’s not important. What is important is what happens in the Temple.
Jesus is doing something truly radical in this parable. Psalm 73 has always intrigued me, and I think it is very relevant to today’s Gospel parable. The writer of psalm 73 can’t understand why wicked people are healthy and comfortable. Doesn’t God see? What’s the point of being good then? He is confused. Like the Pharisee, he goes to the Temple and there something happens:
But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
The speaker of Psalm 73 rejoices to see that their comfortable lives are temporary; God will destroy them! And the psalm ends with words the Pharisee could have spoken or quoted:
For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.
Is there really much of a difference between the sentiments of Psalm 73 and the words of the Pharisee in today’s parable? I don’t think so. The Pharisee was echoing the sentiments of his own scriptures! And Jesus rejected him – and Psalm 73 with him, I dare say! The man in Psalm 73 went into the Temple to complain to God about how well off the wicked are, and gets reassured that God will destroy them! The Pharisee goes into the Temple with contempt for the tax collector, one of those rich, wicked people! Similar situations, but the outcome in the parable is the opposite of the outcome in Psalm 73! Jesus judged the situation in a totally unexpected, unreligious way! Yes, unreligious – because religions more often than not encourage contempt and hatred. I’m sorry if that shocks you.
The keynote speech at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast was given by Arthur Brooks. He was the past president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and now teaches at the Harvard Business School. His speech was about contempt! He quoted the 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who said that contempt is “the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.” And that is a good description of how the Pharisee saw the publican.
Brooks of course was addressing an audience packed with politicians – the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of the House, members of Congress, ambassadors and other dignitaries – so his comments were geared to the audience. But I was most impressed by the way he concluded, and the way he concluded I think applies to all of us, because contempt for others is pretty much a universal temptation. A video of his speech is available on the C-SPAN website. Here is the conclusion of his address, in the text he provided to the media:
I’m asking you to be kind of like a missionary. I’ve had missionaries on both sides of my family, and they are amazing entrepreneurs. They don’t go out looking for people who already agree with them, because that’s not where they are needed — they go to the dark places to bring light. It’s hard work, and there’s lots of rejection involved. (Here are words that have never been uttered: “Oh good, there are missionaries on the porch.”) But it’s the most joyful type of work, isn’t it?
I’m calling each one of you to be missionaries for love in the face of contempt. If you don’t see enough of it, you’re in an echo chamber and need a wider circle of friends — people who disagree with you. Hey, if you want a full blast of contempt within 20 seconds, go on social media! But run toward that darkness, and bring your light.
My sisters and brothers, when you leave the National Prayer Breakfast today and go back to your lives and jobs, you will be back in a world where there is a lot of contempt. That is your opportunity. So I want you to imagine that there is a sign over the exit as you leave this room. It’s a sign I’ve seen over the doors of churches — not the doors to enter, but rather the doors to leave the church. Here’s what it says:
You are now entering mission territory.
“You are entering mission territory.” I like that. We are meant to be missionaries of love and acceptance and joyful surrender to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. It starts with how we enter this building. Do we come with humility and awareness of our need for God’s love and mercy? Things happen in this building; things happen to your heart and spirit. That’s the lesson to take away from Psalm 73 and the parable of the publican and the pharisee. Things happen. How we enter might not be, should not be(!), how we leave. In most cases I would hope that indeed how we leave is not how we entered. Let us be missionaries when we leave.
God himself became a missionary through Jesus Christ. He came to seek the lost and the confused – yes, even the confused man of Psalm 73 and the pharisee and the publican and you and me. As we encounter God’s missionary love, let us also join the mission. Let us conquer contempt and finger-pointing in our own lives and then help others conquer in their own lives. The best missionary is the wounded healer – the one who has been healed of the wounds of the soul. Every one of us has been wounded at one time or other, in one way or other. Don’t leave your life there, at the wounds. Become a wounded healer. That’s a mission you can sign on to – that we all can sign on to!