Contempt

 

Luke 19:9-14

Proper 25 / Year C

The Pharisee prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.”  ^{Luke 18:11}

Notice something about this parable Jesus tells.  Luke’s gospel tells us who it is directed at – those who are self-righteous and regard others with contempt.  Allow me to make a few distinctions so we can be clear what Jesus is describing:

·    Pretentiousness is an unwarranted or exaggerated sense of importance or stature.  It is concerned with how you want to appear to others.

·    Arrogance involves elevating oneself while looking down on others.  It is a manifestation of how others appear to you.

·  Disdain is the estimation another person or group is unworthy of your consideration or respect.

·  Scorn is the outward expression of negative thoughts or feelings about another person or group.

Contempt takes all of this to a much deeper level by holding another person or group is inferior and/or unworthy.  It combines a sense of one’s own felt superiority with disgust and disrespect for the other.  While it is held as an inner hostility, it can be manifested as mockery, sarcasm, hostile humor, name-calling, mimicking, and/or body language such as sneering and eye-rolling (which, interestingly, is found in almost all cultures). 

Researchers highlight three primary catalysts giving rise to contempt.

·    Social rejection.  One study found in unrequited love, 25% of those rejected reported harboring contempt toward what or who they once sought.

·    Moral transgression.  Contempt is one way to respond to those who violate a boundary or norm, be it an offense against our personal autonomy, community practices, or religious beliefs and standards.

·    Recurring conflicts.  When a problem or problems go on and on with no resolution, everything about the other person or group may become intolerable.

Contempt holds a kind of finality.  Anger with another person or group often focuses on an action or belief.  You can only be angry with a person or group if you hold out hope for the possibility of change; the other person might apologize, atone, and change behavior.  Contempt is not focused on deeds, but on an individual person or group you have so devalued you cannot even the possibility of their redemption.

Far from being a solitary experience isolated to an individual, contempt clusters like-minded people into “in groups” who rally against “out-groups” they deem to hold inferior qualities, ideas, and/or values.  From the “It” group in middle school to cable news talking heads and their audiences to everything in between, contempt is both a magnet and a glue; drawing together those with similar toxic assessments and binding them as one.

With all of this as background, let’s turn our attention to this morning’s reading.  A month ago we heard Jesus’ parable of Lazarus (a poor beggar) and a rich man.  In that story, the rich man is completely unaware of Lazarus and his need, even though he passes by him every single day.  Today’s parable has the exact opposite relational dynamic.  The person of higher social standing is hyper focused on the person of lower station.

The setting is the Temple; the occasion a time of prayer.  In this sacred place and moment, a contemptuous person gives thanks not for the splendor of the whole creation, not for the wonder of life, and not for the mystery of live.  He does not give thanks for the blessing of family and friends, nor for the loving care which surrounds him on every side.  No, he gives thanks he is not like the worthless person praying next to him.

If God’s call to me in life is to be better than other people, I will feel pretty good if I compare myself to George Cornell, but not so good if I weighed my merits against his wife, St. Phyllis.  But your call and my call is not to compare ourselves to others.  We are called to one purpose – to base our life (or attitudes and our actions) on the life of Christ. 

Paul instructed the church in Ephesus to be imitators of God by walking in love as Christ loved us ^5:1-2.  He invited the church in Corinth to imitate him in that he sought to imitate Christ ^11:1.  Then, in his next letter to them, he wrote about being transformed into the image of Christ ^4:6.  St. John, in his first letter, wrote whoever seeks to abide in Christ will walk in the same way Jesus walked ^2:6.  Our prayer, when we stand in the Temple should be, “When others look at me may they see the reflection of Christ.  Bless me to make it so.  Forgive me when his image in me is blurry.”