Meditations from Zion

Luke 18:14
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Saturday, my friend and I went to see a Charles Fuller play called Zooman and the Sign. It is not an easy play to watch, over 90 minutes of a family in grief at the loss of their 12 year old daughter/sister/neice to a random drive-by shooting in the city. In addition, the audience experiences a series of interspersed monologues by the killer, Zooman, who has no remorse, and yet, we see his life as a series of losses … and despite his anger and viciousness, there is an “understanding” of sorts that evolves. And when he dies, there is a realization, that every person has a story and every person has a family somewhere and everyone has a kernal of sacred.

In the story about the Pharisee and the tax collector who come to the synagogue for confession, we see the difference between them. It is the tax collector (or street thug?) who knows who is is. He is humbled. So must I remember to be the same. Everyone has a story and it is not for me to judge… this is how I may learn to “love” all in Christ. This is how I may discover an authentic humility within.