Speaker 2: There was a small town that had a river run right through the middle. On the East side were all the farmers. On the West side of the river were all the stores and school. Over time, they started not liking each other, and the words would come out from those on the West Side saying, those farmers on the East Side are all lazy. The farmers all talked about those on the West Side and said, those store owners are all greedy.
And over time, they had little to do with one another, and the bridge that they had in between each other was rarely used. Over time, even the children heard those stories and started to believe those generalizations. One day, a storm came and caused tremendous flooding as the river overflowed. The farms were destroyed of all the crops, And on the West Side, all the power was gone from the stores. A young girl on her own without being asked decided to get a basket of bread and go over the old bridge that was hardly used.
And when she went over, she was met by a farmer who decided to bring some milk. And over time, people started coming to share. And by the end of that week, they worked with each other to help rebuild their lives. What they understood was that there was a wall of falsehood, a wall of generalization, and that when they talked and listened to one another, there became an understanding and a relationship of trust. One of the themes I think that comes from the scriptures today is what can happen to us in humanity is we generalize about people and about groups, and it comes very easy to us.
Think about the religious people today who've heard scriptures about a group called pharisees. Now in our day and age, if we want to insult someone and we think they're hypocritical, we'll call them a pharisee because we know some of the stories in the bible and said, oh, you're such a hypocrite. You're a pharisee. We might even use that for people who are so rigid with the law or something that someone is opposed to the teachings of Jesus, and we call them a pharisee. And yet, if we understand the biblical history, Pharisees got along with Jesus.
The people loved the Pharisees because they kept the law, but they were always concerned about family life and sharing the good things, and so Jesus did not have a problem with them. The Sadducees were the ones in power both politically and religiously. They were against resurrection, life eternal, and also angels. And they're the ones that were in constant opposition to Jesus, and they're the ones that got Jesus killed. But Pharisees, if we look beyond our misconceptions and generalizations, We're loved by Jesus.
What happens is the scripture writers just symbolically choose the pharisees as an image of saying all those who were opposed to Jesus. But we might not know that. How about when you and I generalize one another? Have we been generalized maybe because our ethnicity, maybe our religion, maybe where we live, maybe how we look? It's not a good feeling, is it?
Because we say, we're more than that. Our theme, Lord, teach us to pray, is showing us a way in scriptures today of how not to pray and how we ought to. The pharisee goes into the temple, and it's all about him. And it's about all the good things he's done. And, you know, he says a good person.
He's done double of what the law says. But he looks at the tax collector, and, again, tax collectors were not loved. They had to work with the enemy, the Romans, and they had to make a living so they would overcharge because that's how they made their money, and some or many took advantage of that. And so the Pharisee says, God, I'm praying to you that I'm not like that tax collector and other people like him. And Jesus says, that's not a way to pray.
We also hear of another Pharisee today in scriptures. Saint Paul was a Pharisee. He followed the law. But here's the thing, is his heart is close to the tax collector because the tax collector says, I am sinful. I am sorry.
I'm not where I need to be spiritually, but I wanna do know that I need you in my life. Saint Paul was the same. He breathed murderous threats against anyone who followed Jesus. He caused a lot of fear and terror, and he understands that. And he says, I too need God.
And so in order to pray, it's asking us to have the grace to hear people's stories. The problem is you and I find generalizations comfort because we're busy people. There isn't time to have to sit there and be patient with someone telling a story of who they are and why they act that way. We've already decided they drive us up the wall. We always decided that they're bad people because they don't think like us or look like us or they're part of that group that we have been taught like the children in the story to be suspicious and not like.
That's part of human history. In Jesus' time, even before, and right now. Think about right now the groups that you and I are encouraged not to like, but to generalize. We all do it. We're all invited to dislike certain groups.
They're lazy. They're lawbreakers. They don't believe the way that we do. They don't have the same education, or they're all not very intelligent, or they're all that way, or they have too many children. We all do that.
And leaders who do that encourage that because you are too busy hating on other groups, and that's ignorance. And yet throughout the centuries, leaders know that about people. Praying in a way that says, Lord, let me hear the stories of others. And Lord, in prayer, let me tell you my story because I am more than my sin. I wanna tell you, you all look like really good sinners.
So am I. You have some great stories, don't you? But you are more than your sin. And God sees you beyond the things that you and I might be ashamed about. Some of you have no shame.
For others, you're shameful of everything. And yet, God looks beyond that. And our prayer needs to be, Lord, help me to hear the stories of others and to give dignity. I invite you this week to watch your language, because let me tell you what you're going to be invited to do this week. At breakfast, at lunch, on social media, or dealing with people in the everyday life, you're going to be invited to use language that generalize.
You're gonna be invited to dehumanize people. You're going to be invited not to care about their stories. And I promise you, if you follow what's going on in the world, you are going to be asked to hate groups, distrust them, and label them. And you know what's sad? Is when Christians bite.
You all think pharisees are hypocrites. They're not. They were part of Jesus' friends and he loved them. I thought they were all hypocrites. I've been using that word wrong.
Welcome to humanity and welcome to prayer. Watch your language this week. See how many times you are invited. Maybe how it flows out of your mouth right away because it is so much easier to be dismissive and say, there isn't time to hear your story or reasons why the way you are. But real authentic prayer is what the tax collector and Saint Paul do tonight.
Lord, I too struggle and I need you. Help me to see the dignity of other people and to know their story.