Parables for Today - Part 2

Only two more Bible study lessons on the Parables! I promise to drop the "Parables for Today" topic soon but, in preparing for tomorrow's study and looking ahead to the study I will have to teach next week, real world ties just jump out at me.

Tomorrow's lesson is about the judge "who neither feared God nor had respect for people" who finally gave in to the persistent widow who kept bugging him to provide her justice in her claim. The parable is an appeal to persistence in prayer. In reading the material, however, my mind keeps going back to the judge, the guy who in his own words says, "Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone...".

My mind goes back to the judge because our former governor, his brother, and several others were arraigned today on 16 counts of fraud, bribery and assorted other charges. In Jesus' time the judicial system worked on bribes. In Illinois, apparently, the system still works on bribes and on people who "have no fear of God and no respect for anyone." Incidentally, the former governor and his cohorts pleaded not-guilty.

Next week's lesson is the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Both went to pray at the Temple. The Pharisee loudly proclaimed his good deeds and that he was thankful to be better than everyone else while the Tax Collector stood apart and said "God, be merciful to me a sinner". The well-known lesson is that "all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Of course, my brain went off in different directions.

1. Don't judge others. OK, our constitution says that Blagojevich is innocent until proven guilty. Who am I to judge him or others? But, then again, there's the issue of the damning tapes in which the former governor essentially says that, like the judge, he doesn't care at all about God or people, just about filling his pockets. "All who exalt themselves will be humbled"????

2. Humility vs. confidence. If you were to describe someone to me as a "humble" person, my image would be of someone hiding in the corner hoping no one would notice him/her. I know that's not what humble really means, but it gets confusing. God gives us skills and abilities and wants us to use them to his glory. If I got all wimpy and self-deprecating when I give a BER seminar or if David didn't show confidence when he makes a technical presentation, participants would not hear our messages. On the other hand, the biggest turn-off in the world is the speaker who tells the audience how wonderful he/she is. How to recognize our sinfulness, be humble, yet use our gifts to God's glory at the same time requires walking a fine line. It's not as simple as "all who humble themselve will be exalted."

3. Humility vs. self-esteem. I subscribe to "FLteach", a listserv for foreign language teachers. Generally, teachers post a question and, usually, dozens of people respond. Today's topic began with a teacher who said her principal is instituting a policy that the teachers no longer may give any zeros. The lowest possible grade, by decree, will be 50%. The student who never pays attention, never does homework and never passes a test will never have a grade below 50%. Responses to this posting indicate that this teacher's situation is not unique, it's happening all over the country. Is this type of educational policy unrealistically "exalting" students or is it a way of showing mercy?

Since I don't have to teach the Pharisee/Tax Collector lesson until next week, I'm confident that you'll have all the "answers" for me before then! Certainly an easy task.....oh wait, we've only been deliberating this parable for about 2,000 years!