Finger-pointing

 Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Luke 18:9-14

Jeremiah is worried. God’s people have wandered away from God; they have not been faithful; they have sinned. And Jeremiah is trying to trust in God; he remembers that God has never left them, and he pleads for God to not leave them.

As God’s people, we are broken. It seems impossible to be fully faithful, fully obedient to the commandments. Jesus highlights this brokenness with yet another parable. A Pharisee – who knows the commandments well and tries hard to follow them – is praying. He thanks God he is more faithful and obedient than the tax collector he notices nearby.

The tax collector the Pharisee has just mentioned is praying, too. He knows he is a sinner, a particularly awful sinner in the eyes of the Jewish people. Being a tax collector in Israel means forcing your own people to pay taxes to the Roman invaders. Imagine, for example, a Ukrainian being forced to collect taxes for Russia.

The Jewish tax collector has likely been forced to collect taxes because he has no other way to feed his family. He would rather do anything else, but he has no choice. Beyond any other personal failings, he understands that he is sinning against God and against his people.

The Pharisee points his finger at the tax collector, indicating the tax collector is beneath him, not only in society, but also in God’s eyes. We, too, point fingers. All the time!

We point fingers in political ads. We point fingers in commercials for competing products. We point fingers at people who are different from us, different skin color, different faith, different ethnicity, different ways of expressing their sexuality. Even at people who are younger or older than we are, and their different music and dance.

As I spent the week with this parable, I saw my own finger pointing at all sorts of things, most of it harmless. McDonald’s has better iced coffee than Wendy’s. It’s better to be a Lutheran than any other denomination of Christian.

And this: I was raised to believe I am Swedish, although the language wasn’t art of my heritage, or any of the customs. I attended Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill, where I learned that Augustana in Sioux Falls was founded after a disagreement between the Swedes and Norwegians, and I was proud to be a Swede.

I submitted a DNA sample to Ancestry.com a few years ago, and it confirmed that I had Scandinavian heritage, with a sprinkling of other regions. They recently updated the data, and I learned that I am significantly more Norwegian than Swedish. Say what? Now, I can’t point fingers at Norwegians, because I am one of them!

Most of the time, however, our finger-pointing comes with a more negative intent. Our brokenness causes us to see differences between ourselves and others, especially those differences that make us feel better, more important, more perfect than those at the end of our pointed fingers. Our brokenness causes separation among us. Sometimes, these separations cause pain for those at whom we point, and within ourselves.

So, what should we do now? Confession is good for the soul. And confession leads us to realize how much we need God’s forgiveness and compassion, as Jeremiah assures us.

And there’s something else we can do. At the Conference on Ministry last week, Pastor Katie Carroll shared what it is like to be companions with others. So often, too often, the historical pattern has been that people from wealthy countries have explored and then invaded and taken over a place where indigenous people have lived for centuries. Where they haven’t killed or dislocated the original inhabitants, they have insisted that the local people become like the invaders.

That is invasion, domination. A different model is companionship, in which we become partners with the local people, learning from them, and recognizing them as equal to us. The best way to do that is to remember to see Jesus in them, and to be Jesus for them.

This week, I encourage you to pay attention to how often you point a finger at someone or something. Confess it, ask for forgiveness, and know that you have been forgiven. That’s what God’s grace is.

Amen