Day 24 - Love First: In the Face of Arrogance

Love First: In the Face of Arrogance

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Luke 18:9-14

Arrogance wears a lot of faces—aloofness, disdain, egotism, pretension, vanity, conceit, haughtiness, self-importance, narcissism, pride. We have all been on both sides of it. We have been the one with too much pride or have held ourselves aloof when others needed us. We have also been the one who suffered because someone else’s ego was threatened or we have been put down in the wake of someone else’s vanity. Whichever side we were on, we wanted to be loved in spite of it. That’s not so wrong.

Let’s face it. When we read this account of the two men praying, it doesn’t take rocket science to see that the Pharisee didn’t really go to the temple to pray to God. He went to announce to everyone else how good he was and how he was the best at doing what he was supposed to do. This was not a modest brag. This was arrogance and all of its associated faces.

What strikes me is how the tax collector didn’t respond to what everyone in the temple could obviously hear. He was completely engaged in begging God for mercy and forgiveness for his sins. I’m not so sure I could have just ignored or tuned out the Pharisee, especially if I had been singled out like this man was.

The challenges to either overcoming arrogance in our own lives or trying to love someone in spite of their own arrogance can seem overwhelming. It can be very difficult to admit that we are wrong. Instead, we may act humble, but deep down inside, we still believe that we are right and everyone else is wrong. It can seem nearly hopeless to try to cope with someone who persists in putting us down so that they look good.

Jesus was very clear to those listening to him that the tax collector, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified before God. It would have been interesting to interview both of those men as they left the temple. I wonder what the Pharisee would have said and what his facial expressions would have conveyed? I wonder if the tax collector would have even stopped for the interview or if he would have said, “No comment,” and gone on his way.

Your Mission
Try to conquer arrogance and anger today with love. Let the crazy driver merge, give someone the seat on MARTA, or the like.