Listen

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He wouldn’t even lift his eyes to look toward heaven. Rather, he struck his chest and said, ‘God, show mercy to me, a sinner.’”

Luke 18:13

Think

As the Pharisee prays and points out all the sinful people he’s thankful he’s not, he notices a tax collector. In those days, tax collectors were seen as traitors. They were Jewish people who worked for the Roman government, making money off their own people while serving the oppressor. The faithful, religious, God’s-law-abiding Pharisee was especially glad he wasn’t like that guy.

But while the Pharisee compares himself to the traitorous tax collector, the tax collector does not compare himself to anybody. He isn’t glancing around to see who is watching him, so he doesn’t notice the Pharisee looking at him. He can’t even bear to lift his eyes to God. While the Pharisee checks out how everyone else is sinning and then feels better about himself, the tax collector “keeps his eyes on his own paper.” He looks only inside himself. And what he sees there shows him exactly what he needs: God’s mercy.

Nikki Finkelstein-Blair

Pray

Have mercy on me, God, especially when I compare myself to those around me.

Have mercy on me, God, especially when I fail to offer mercy to others.

Have mercy on me, God, especially when I cannot see any good in myself.

I trust in your mercy.

Amen.

Go

When we say “Amen,” we are saying, “Yes, truly.” We are saying, “Let it be so.”

In our silences — in our unspoken requests and questions — we hold the “Amen.”

In our stops and starts — in all the ways we move through life — we act out the “Amen.”

In our hesitations — in our uncertain ideas about ourselves and God — we remember the “Amen.”

In every silence, in every stop and every start, in every hesitant thought, God goes with you.

Yes, truly. Let it be so.

Amen.