BETTER THAN THOU?

BETTER THAN THOU? The LAST thing In the world Jesus wants us To think=is that we are BETTER than somebody else Anyone else In today's reading=Jesus uses The illustration between the haughty Pharisee And the HUMBLE tax collector “........I thank you that I am NOT like the rest of humanity........” Luke 18:11 And the tax collector PRAYED: “God have MERCY on me, a sinner” Luke 18:13 -And would not even look up To heaven, as he struck his breast And isn't that the way IT IS For all of us-we are ALL sinners We all need GOD'S MERCY Our God-is an OBJECTIVE God- He treats us all the same And GIVES us all the same opportunity To LOVE him and to love each other (As well as to forgive each other-and- BE KIND to each other) Are you like the Pharisee? Do you FEEL that you are better Than others? Do you feel you are better- DESERVE MORE? MAYBE SO-there's probably A little bit of the Pharisee In all of us BE HUMBLE-just like God- Your Father Be humble-just like Jesus “He GUIDES the humble In what is right And teaches them his way” Psalm 25:8 “He mocks proud mockers But shows FAVOR To the HUMBLE and oppressed” Proverbs 3:34 The truth is I am NOT BETTER Than thou And you are not better Than me NO person is better than Anyone else In the KINGDOM of God We are all equal and OBJECTIVELY LOVED By the Lord our God UNFORTUNATELY for us-at one time- Or another in life-I think We all ACT like the PHARISEE I think we all think We should be TREATED better Than someone else BE HUMBLE-like the Lord LISTEN to how Jesus ENDS the parable- Between the Pharisee and the tax collector “I tell you That this man Rather than the other Went home JUSTIFIED before God For all those Who exalt themselves Will be humbled And those who humble themselves Will be exalted” Luke 18:14 NONE of us are better than another IN GOD'S WORLD- We ALL find our JUSTICE there “WHEN justice is done It brings JOY to the righteous But terror to evil doers” Proverbs 21:15 BETTER THAN THOU? NOT HARDLY Robert P. Wallman October 22, 1015 Ps INSPIRED by an article in LIVING FAITH MAGAZINE by Sr. Joyce Rupp, O.S.M.