How do we see?
Really see? How do we notice the details of something that holds out attention?
Part of what makes a good photograph or painting is the use of light and shadow, of contrast.
I have all these overexposed and underexposed photographs that I took as a child, that are interesting, but they don’t hold my attention they don’t make me look more carefully. They don’t cause me to look twice, or let my gaze linger.
What is it about contrast that helps us see, that holds our attention, that makes us look more carefully?
It isn’t really about balancing light and dark. It is the contrast itself that helps us to see both, light and the absence of light.
Many of Jesus parables make use of contrast, moral and spiritual contrast, surprising contrasts, showing light and dark where we don’t expect.
That is why the parables catch our attention and cause us to look more carefully, to question what we see.
The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is a study in contrast.
Who is righteous? Who is faithful? Who knows how to pray? Who is in touch with God?
There is the Pharisee. His piety is beyond question, he goes the extra mile, does more than what is required and requested.
But rather than being thankful for being able to be so devout he is full of scorn, contempt and ridicule for other people who are not as successful as he is. He thinks highly of himself, while denigrating others.
A religious professional who is full of darkness.
A study in contrast.
Then there is the tax collector.
He is more than what we understand as the tax man.
In firs century Palestine he worked for the enemy, he worked for the invaders, the military occupiers, the Roman Empire.
The money he collected went to Rome, to pay for the occupation, to pay for the whimsy of the emperor and he took his own cut off the top.
The tax collector betrayed his people and made a living by doing it. Some were fair in their dealings. Others abused their power and took way too much.
Needless to say, he was not held highly by society.
He is the unlikely one to be in touch with God, but he is.
A regular Benedict Arnold who is full of light.
A study in contrast.
The tax collector looks in scorn on no one, he looks down in shame and says the sinners prayer, “God be merciful to me a sinner!
Those humbles themselves will be exalted.
Those who exalt themselves will be humbled.
The sinner who is forgiven.
The righteous one who is imprisoned in sin.
A study in contrast.
We do a double take, we look again, and again.
Until we see that the way of God is not the way of mockery, or contempt, or scorn, or denigration.
Until we see that the way of Jesus is grace and thanksgiving, poured out upon the world without regard, without restraint.
A religion of darkness.
A religion of light.
Our attention is held by the study of contrast.
And we see what we did not see before.
We see God.
“I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
– Thomas Merton