Examining Contempt
Noticing the moment you place yourself above someone.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking, at least I am not like that person? Contempt rarely announces itself. It feels like clear sight rather than a fault, a settled sense that someone is beneath you, easiest to feel on the days you are sure you are right.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Luke 18:14
Jesus told this story to people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. Two men pray at the temple. One is a Pharisee, careful about religion, who thanks God that he is not like other men and names the second man inside his own prayer. The other asks only for mercy. The man who goes home right with God is the one with nothing to present.
Jesus never says the Pharisee’s standards are wrong, or that fasting and giving do not matter. The problem is the comparison, and where it left him. Contempt always arrives with a reason, and the reason is often partly true. What it never has is the whole picture, including the part you are in. Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased is not a threat. It describes what happens to a person who stops needing mercy.
Today, when the thought arrives that someone is beneath you, stop and pray the second man’s words: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Then say one good and true thing about that person where they can hear it.
The moment I am sure I am the better one, I have stopped asking for mercy.
Luke 18:14