Eleventh Sunday after Trinity, August 11th, 2024
In the Eighteenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke, Our Lord tells the parable of the two men who go into the Temple to pray. You will remember the story. The Lord tells us that one of the men was a Pharisee. The Pharisees prided themselves on their strict observance of the Jewish law. The other man in the parable was a Publican. In other words, he was a tax-collector. Publicans were not popular back then just like they are not popular today, come to think of it. But it is really the first part of the beginning verse in this parable that I want to focus on. We hear in verse Nine of this Eighteenth Chapter: "JESUS spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:" We have to remember that Our Lord made a point to tell this parable to people who "trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others." Have you ever met anyone who met this description? If you haven't met them in-person I bet you've encountered a few of them online. Online they're described as either "trolls" or "keyboard warriors." They are the people who think they have a superior opinion on every subject, and they look down their nose with contempt at anyone who holds a differing opinion. These people love to hang out on social media sites. It's one thing to be sure of your beliefs but it is something completely different to despise others who are different than you or have a different opinion than you do or think differently than you.
To those of us who do our best to follow the teachings of Christ, perhaps it would be helpful to look at another verse found in this very same Gospel. Look at the previous chapter and you will find something very important. Our Lord is having a debate with the Pharisees regarding the Kingdom of God. And in St. Luke 17:21 Our Lord states the following: "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you." Now, granted it is very difficult to see God in a lot of folks that we run into. And, granted these same folks probably don't acknowledge that God is within them. But the fact remains the same that if God created you. If God loves you. If God chose you as His child. If all of these statements are true, then it's certainly true that God also loves the person you hold in contempt. God is also within the person that you despise. And God also chose the person who holds a different opinion than you to be His child as well. Perhaps if we make a point to remember first the verse found in St. Luke 17:21 " . . . . behold, the Kingdom of God is with you." we won't get to the point where we fit the description found in St. Luke 18:9 " . . . which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."
Please make a point to join us for Mass on Sunday. St. Margaret Church gathers together each and every Sunday at 10:30 am. We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Version of the Bible. We use the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. And receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Saviour at Communion time. We are all busy. We all lead busy lives. Take an hour out of your busy week and dedicate it to God. Give that hour to God and spend it with Him.
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