Luke 18

The Man Who Thought Himself Somebody

God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men. Luke 18:11.

You all know the story of the Pharisee and the publican how the two men went up to the Temple to pray; how the Pharisee stood in a conspicuous place and recited a list of all the wicked things he had not done and all the good things he thought he had done; and how the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner”

The Pharisee belonged to a sect or school among the Jews who prided themselves on carefully observing every little point of the Law. At the same time many of them had very little of the true spirit of charity and justice. They had piled up a great heap of trifling forms and ceremonies, and they thought that the observing of these would make them righteous; but they were often hard, unsympathetic, and unmerciful.

The publicans were the tax-gatherers of Palestine. The Holy Land was at that time ruled by the Romans, who taxed the Jews heavily. These taxes were collected by the publicans, who tried to make as good a thing of it as they could, and who often exacted more than their due. For this reason, and also because they were in the service of the conqueror, they were much hated by the Jews.

And yet the publican in our story was a better man than the Pharisee; for he had a humble, penitent heart and truly felt his need, while the Pharisee was thoroughly well pleased with himself. His prayer was no prayer, but merely a self-complacent boast.

I want you to think specially of one sentence in the Pharisee's prayer “God, I thank thee, that I am not as the rest of men.”

What is the Pharisee doing? Well, he is just blowing his own trumpet as hard as ever he can, and the more noise he makes the better pleased he is with himself. He divides the world into two classes. He puts himself into one class, and the rest of men into the other, and then he sits down and admires himself immensely.

Do we ever thank God that we are “not as the rest of men”? Perhaps we never do it in words, but we do it in thought when we are snobs. What is a snob? A snob is a horrid creature who looks down on others because he fancies they are not so well-off, or so well- dressed, or so well-born, or so well-something-else as he is.

Now snobbishness is a very ugly, a very disagreeable, a very silly, and a very wicked thing, and if any of you see the tiniest sign of it beginning to grow in you I hope you will nip it in the bud. Here are one or two things that will help to keep us from being snobs if we try very hard to remember them.

1. The first is that no real gentleman or gentlewoman is a snob. If you meet people who like to have you think they are better born, or better connected, or wealthier than others, you will know at once that they are not real gentlefolk, whatever their rank. True gentlefolk never think of such things, far less do they speak of them.

“It is such a pity Betty has gone to that common school!” said Mary, aged eleven, in speaking of her cousin. “She has such common friends now, I don't care to play with her.” And it never struck Mary that she was giving away her own commonness by making such a remark.

“We live in a big house and my Dad's a gentleman, so I must be a gentleman!” boasted a boy of ten. He and a friend together had just knocked down a boy half their size. Well, I hope that gentleman (?) got a good thrashing from his Dad!

If we have had special privileges, if we have been brought tip in a comfortable home, if we have had parents who are gentlefolk, then more is required of us. We owe a special debt of gratitude to God. And the best way we can show that gratitude is by being kind and considerate to those who have been less fortunately placed than ourselves.

2. And the second thing we should remember is that in God's sight we are all equal.

A little French princess a daughter of Louis XIV. was one day in a very bad temper. She grew cross with one of the maids of honor and demanded haughtily, “Am I not the daughter of your king?” “And I, madam,” replied the maid of honor, “am I not the daughter of your God?”

If we try to keep in mind that we are all sons and daughters of God, then we shall have no room for haughty or superior thoughts. God made the king in his palace and the little beggar boy on the street. He made the white boys in Europe and the yellow boys in China, the brown boys in India and the black boys in Africa. He gave us all eyes to see with, and ears to hear with, and tongues to speak with, and hearts to love with. He makes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on rich and poor alike. He loves us all with the same abounding love.

3. But the chief thing I want you to remember is that we cannot he the true friends of Jesus if we are snobs.

The general of an army was seen talking with a poor woman and someone said to him, “You should not talk to that woman. Remember your rank!” Quickly the general turned on the speaker. “And what if my Lord had considered His rank?” said he.

The greatest Gentleman who ever lived was brought up in a carpenter's shop, and made friends of fishermen. He befriended the outcast and despised. He dined with publicans and sinners. It was chiefly among the poor and lowly that He found His friends, and He was specially tender and pitiful towards those upon whom other men looked with contempt.

If we want to be the friends of Jesus we must keep a humble, loving heart. And in that heart there will be no room for snobbishness.