30th June 2020
It's Tuesday, 30th June 2020.
Hello everyone, it’s Mr Keep here.
May the Lord be with you.
We are Bishop Ridley, we are One Community, Learning & Growing Together, Sharing the Love of God.
This week we are thinking about the Christian Value of Humility.
Our Bible Storyfor today is Luke 18:9-14 (The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector)
Take a couple of minutes to watch this animation of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.
Our thought for the day
'Humility'
This is a word that we do not hear very often. I wonder if you can remember what it means? I wonder if this clip might help you?
In 2018, tennis player Grigor Dimitrov hit national headlines, but it wasn’t for his tennis skills. Have a look at what happened:
Why you think Grigor was praised? I wonder if you can think of any more examples of someone building someone up, rather than knocking them down?
In our Bible story today, Jesus speaks about two kinds of people. Which person was humble in this story? I wonder why Jesus praised this person?
Tax collectors were hated in biblical times and were regarded as sinners. They were Jews who worked for the Romans, so this made them traitors. People resented paying taxes to the foreigners who ruled over them.
Tax collectors were not paid an actual wage by the Romans, they were expected to take extra money and keep some for themselves. Many tax collectors were dishonest and abused this system by taking far too much.
Jesus wants to teach people the importance of praying with the right attitude. This parable is aimed at those who think they are very righteous and look down on others – that is, the Pharisees.
Jews had to pray three times a day and people would go to the temple for private prayer.
The Pharisee stood up to pray, which was the usual practice. The Pharisee prayed about himself, informing God of the wrong things he had not done, “I am not like other men – robbers, evil-doers and adulterers”. Then he spoke about the religious practices he had observed, fasting twice a week and giving tithes. The Pharisee thought he was praying, but the only person he was praising was himself.
The tax collector, on the other hand, put his head down and kept hitting himself to show how sorry he was. He knew he was a sinner and he knew he needed God to forgive him. Nobody can be proud of himself in front of God.
The men went home but only the tax collector had pleased God, as he had been humble and asked for forgiveness.
A prayer for today
Dear God,
You know none of us are perfect.
You see our mistakes and you know our thoughts
and you know how great we sometimes want to be.
Help us to change our perspective so that we take our eyes off the wonder of ourselves, looking at the wonder of others instead.
Help us to see greatness in everyone, seeing your life within each person we meet.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.