Tag: love your neighbour

Don’t be a Pharisee …

The Legend of the Stones

Two women approached a wise man and asked for instruction. One of them regarded herself as a terrible sinner. In her youth, she had deceived her husband, and she tortured herself constantly with the memory of her infidelity.

The second, on the other hand, had lived her entire life within the law and by the rules. She wasn’t conscious of any serious sin, had nothing much to reproach herself with and felt quite pleased with herself.

The wise man asked both women about their life. The first went as she confessed her great sin. She felt her sin had been so great that she had no right to expect forgiveness. The second said that she had not committed any particular sins.

The wise man said to the first woman, ‘Go, daughter of God, and look for the heaviest boulder you can find – one that you can barely manage to carry – and bring it to me.’

‘And you,’ he said to the second woman, who could not recall any serious sin, ‘go and bring me as many stones as you can carry, but they must all be small ones.’

The women went off to do as the wise man had told them. The first brought a huge boulder; the second brought a whole sackful of small pebbles.

The wise man examined the stones and said, ‘Now do as follows. Take the stones back and replace each one of them exactly where you picked it up, and when you have put them all back where you found them, come back to me.’

The women went off again to carry out the wise man’s instructions. The first very easily found the place from where she had taken the huge boulder, and she replaced it where it had been. But the second had no idea where she had picked up all her little pebbles, and had to return to the wise man without having carried out his instruction.

‘You see,’ said the wise man, ‘that’s how it is with our sins. It was easy to take the big, heavy boulder back to its place because you knew exactly where you first found it. But it was impossible to remember where all those little pebbles came from.’

And to the first woman, he said, ‘You are very conscious of your sin. You carry in your heart the reproach of your husband and of your conscience; you have learned humility, and in this way you have been freed of your wrongdoing. You, however,’ he said to the second woman, who had come back still carrying her sack of little pebbles, ‘you, who have sinned in many small ways, do not know any more when and how you did wrong; you are not able to repent. You have grown accustomed to a life of little sins, to passing judgement on the sins of others while becoming more deeply entangled in your own. It has become impossible to free yourself of them.’

A story by Leo Tolstoy retold by Margaret Silf

To paraphrase from part of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18: The Pharisee thanks God that he is not like other people. He details his religious practices and self perceived righteousness and considers himself more virtuous and superior to others.

The tax collector feels unworthy and simply asks God to have mercy on him, a sinner.

Jesus states it is the tax collector and not the Pharisee who went home justified by God. God values the tax collector’s humility, not the Pharisee’s self-righteousness.

Jesus told this parable to warn those who trusted in themselves but who treated others with contempt. He warns them against spiritual pride and calls for us to have humility in prayer and in life. Our justification comes solely from God’s grace and mercy and not from our own achievements.

Humility is essential for a right relationship with God whilst spiritual pride leads to self-righteousness and being rejected by God.

It is easy to fall into the trap of behaving like the Pharisee. I know someone who, on a regular basis, beats their chest and says “I thank God I am not like other men”.

Modern day Pharisees are not all as obvious as this but are characterised by their self-righteousness, a tendency to burden others with strict rules whilst not following them themselves and a focus on power and control of over serving.

They may appear religious whilst lacking genuine faith whilst adhering to certain rules or attending church yet without a corresponding difference in their daily life. They may focus on strict adherence to rules and traditions, creating heavy burdens for others yet ignoring the spirit of the law. They judge and condemn others, even misrepresenting their motives whilst projecting their own shortcomings onto them.

They believe they are more righteous than others but are unwilling to admit to their own sins or weaknesses.

They are more concerned about other’s opinion of them and how they are seen than they are about having a genuine relationship with God.

But, even for Pharisees, there is hope.

To not be a Pharisee, hear the words of Jesus. Jesus is the Light of the world, whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

Don’t ignore the content of what Jesus says, or you’ll miss out. Hear Jesus’s word and His message. Actively listen to Him by reading and paying attention to Scripture. If you ignore Scripture, if you ignore the Bible, if it just sits on a shelf gathering dust, then you are ignoring the word of Jesus.

Regardless of how busy we are, we make time for what matters most. Nobody is too busy to hear Jesus’s word.

Hearing Jesus’s word – reading the Bible is non-negotiable for both first-time faith and for growing faith. You can’t believe in and become like Jesus without His word. Hear His word.

See Jesus’s light. Light is a big metaphor. Jesus is an exposing light, an illuminating light, and a welcoming light.

He exposes what is hidden, calls out sin, and banishes darkness. He illuminates, revealing or making known the way, shining out in the darkness and showing us what we need to see. He is a welcoming light guiding us and inviting us home.

See the light, put your faith in Jesus, and be welcomed home. Follow Jesus’s path. Jesus’s promises of light and life are only for those who follow Him. Truly believe and truly follow Jesus.

This doesn’t mean just recognising that Jesus was a real person – and there is historical evidence of this – it means seeing and listening to Jesus, going wherever He leads and doing what He says. Literally following Him. Not just being a Christian but being a Christ-Follower. True believing where your highest allegiance is to Jesus; whatever He wants, that’s what you want.

Don’t be a Pharisee.
Hear Jesus’s word.
See Jesus’s light.
Follow Jesus’s path.
Be humble.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us, all sinners.

Stones and Pebbles

Riches and Heaven

A Sandwich for Supper

A story tells of a man who went to the office every day in his expensive car, and made important decisions and signed big contracts. Often, the important man would enjoy business lunches with his clients, and would try to distract the attention of his influential guests away from the unsavoury spectacle of the beggars on the streets of his city. One evening, after a hard day making money, he packed his briefcase to go home, where supper would be waiting for him. As he was locking his desk for the night, he caught sight of a stale sandwich lying abandoned at the back of the drawer. Without much thought he crammed it in his coat pocket. No need for it to go mouldy and mess up his desk. And on the way out to the car park he saw a street beggar on the steps, huddled in an old blanket. ‘Here my friend,’ he said to the beggar. ‘Here is something for your supper.’ And he gave him the stale sandwich. That night, the man dreamed that he was away on a business trip. After the day’s meeting, he was taken with his fellow directors to the town’s most luxurious restaurant. Everyone gave their orders and settled down with their aperitifs to look forward to a convivial evening. The orders arrived. Pate de foie gras. Medallions of venison. Lamb cutlets with rosemary and garlic. The dishes being brought to the table brought gasps of delight from all the company. Then his own order appeared. A waitress set in front of him one small plate, on which was served a stale sandwich. ‘What kind of service is this?’ the man demanded, enraged. ‘This isn’t what I ordered! I thought this was the best restaurant in town!’ ‘Oh sir,’ the waitress told him, ‘you’ve been misinformed. This isn’t a restaurant at all. This is heaven. We are only able to serve you what you sent on ahead while you were alive. I’m very sorry, sir, but when we looked under your name, the best we could find to serve to you was this little sandwich.’

Retelling of a Jewish folk story, Margaret Silf

Luke (chapter 16 verses 19 to end) tells us about the rich man and Lazarus. It is a stern teaching and word of warning from Jesus; although it is often misinterpreted.

We have a rich man living in luxury and a poor homeless man living right under the nose of the rich man, by his gate where the rich man could not miss him.

These are opposite extremes. The poor man has nothing, wears rags, is covered in sores and lives on the street. The rich man has fine clothes in colours that show off his wealth to the world, a luxurious home and an abundance of food.

The rich man had so much more than he needed, yet, despite seeing the poor man every day he completely ignored him and did nothing.

The poor man was so neglected that those passing did not even chase the dogs away from him.

Jesus has talked in other passages about how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

However, that is not because of the wealth itself but because of man’s love of wealth and the ignoring of those suffering and in need.

It is the state of our hearts and not the state of our wallets that interests Jesus.

The wealth and luxury the rich man enjoyed was not, in itself, what condemned him.

What condemned the rich man was that he totally ignored the poor man, despite him being right in his path.

We all have opportunities to help others laid in our paths. If we neglect these opportunities we are as guilty as the rich man. As Jesus said, “The poor will always be with us”.

The selfish use of worldly possessions is equally sinful. To do nothing when there are people like the poor man at our gates is equally wicked no matter how much wealth or how many possessions we have.

Spiritual things are also being represented in the different states of good and bad, in this world and the next.

The rich man’s sin was in providing only for himself. The poor man is in the depth of adversity and distress.

We are not told that the rich man caused any harm to the poor man but the rich man did not care for the poor man.

There is a time coming when those who hate and despise the people of God would gladly receive kindness from them. But the damned in hell will not have their torment eased.

Nothing can bring about true repentance without the special grace of God renewing the sinner’s heart.

Jesus is using this teaching to consolidate the dangers of the love of money, the deceitful, treacherous nature of riches; that those not using their property in the right way may not enter heaven, that they ought to heed the warnings from the prophets and their duty to care for and show kindness to the poor.

Both the rich and the poor man die. Jesus does not reveal what the after lands are really like. Instead He uses the preconceived ideas of those He is teaching; The point was to emphasise the total reversal of position of the rich man and the poor man.

The rich man, who lived in luxury whilst alive, now lives in torment and suffering. The poor man, who lived in suffering and torment whilst alive, is now the possessor of abundance and delight.

The rich man now wants from the poor man the help which he refused to give the poor man in life. Each must, however, reap in death what he has sown in life.

How we live our lives here determines life hereafter, the character we make out of ourselves, once set and hardened in this life, cannot be remoulded in the next.

The rich man’s request for his brethren serves only to try and excuse himself by claiming ignorance, and that had he known he would have been different. He tries to put the blame on insufficient warnings instead of owning it himself.

However, the teachings of Moses and the prophets are sufficient, holding a divine message for those who wish to listen.

It is not a lack of warnings but the aversion of will.

The rich man is in torment, not because he did not know his actions were wrong, but because he did not choose to do what he knew to be right.

Let us ponder the story of The Long-Handled Spoons:

A rabbi asked God to give him a glimpse of what heaven and hell would be like. God agreed to this request, and asked the prophet Elijah to be the rabbi’s guide on this adventure. Elijah first led the rabbi into a large room. In the middle of the room was a fire with a big cooking pot bubbling away on it. And in the pot was a delicious stew. All around the cooking pot sat a crowd of people. They each had a long-handled spoon, which they were dipping into the delicious stew. But the people looked pale and thin and wretched. There was an icy stillness in the room. The handles of the spoons were so long that no one was able to get the lovely food into their mouth. When the two visitors were back outide again, the rabbi asked Elijah what strange place this was. ‘That was hell,’ Elijah explained. Then Elijah led the rabbi to a second room, which looked exactly like the first. In the middle, a fire was blazing and a cooking pot was bubbling away, full of the same delicious, aromatic stew. People sat around the fire, with the same long-handled spoons in their hands But they were enjoying lively, animated conversations with each other. And the difference? Well, the people in the second room were not trying to feed themselves with the long-handled spoons. They were using the spoons to feed each other. ‘Ah, heaven,’ said the rabbi.

retold by Margaret Silf from an unknown source.
Long-handled spoon