"Good People" - "Bad People" and careless Anti-Semitism.
The Parable Jesus tells in Luke 18 is among my favorite passages in the Bible.
I have included it here with some translations choices I will explain below:
Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a [good person] and the other a [bad person]. The [good person] , standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this [bad person]. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the [bad person], standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” - Luke 18:9-14 NRSV
That we tend to read Luke 18 dangerously wrong is revealing and highlights a favorite wrong approach to reading the Bible committed by many modern Christians. Namely, we automatically insert ourself as the “good person” in the narrative, neutering Jesus teaching and freeing us to weaponize the Bible as a club to clobber the “bad persons” in our narrative. Spoiler: Unless you are a historically and currently oppressed people group, it is always a better to start with the assumption that the Bible has something to say *TO YOU* rather than something for you to wield *AT THEM.*
Metaphorically, Luke 14 provides a fascinating lens for reading the Bible without defaulting to this sort of “protagonist bias” (Also helpful for those who need a specific verse to back up that this sort of Bible reading is Biblical):
“When you [open Scripture], do not [insert yourself in] the place of honor… But when you [open scripture], go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves [in the way they read scripture] will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The point of this parable is that a “good” person and a “bad” person prayer during church and then Jesus gives us some red-carpet commentary on what’s going on below the surface of these good and bad “costumes”. The “good” person is dripping with pride and condescension - the “bad” person is contrite and humble - Jesus has flipped the scripture and revealed the “bad” person is the actual protagonist. This reversal of expectation mirrors how we must approach reading the passage if we want the maximum red-letter-Jesus impact - we need insert ourself as the “good” person who needs to do some deep soul searching and reflection. We need to insert the people we like into the “good person” part of the passage and the people we don’t like into the “bad” slot. Imagine how shocking that would be to hear from Jesus? As a discipline, it makes reading the Bible much more personally confrontational and interesting - and has an additional impact of increasing my empathy for others.
Things I wan’t taught in Bible school or Sunday School:
There is a second dangerous mistake we commit when we read this passage (and many others): When we use the word Pharisee as non-Jewish Christians - we risk dangerous anti-semitism. I contend we (non-jewish Christians) stop using the word all together - it’s not really a word that belongs to us - and using it to mean “legalist” or “hypocrite” or “bad person” does a disservice to the Bible, and more importantly to Jewish people and history. For most of their history, the Pharisee community were heroes and saviors of their people - preserving order and culture and caring for their community. Some have even argued that Jesus himself could have been a Pharisee. When we are not careful - our uncritical use of words such as "Pharisee - mirror the ways Nazis and complicit German Christians read the Bible prior to WW2 - a dark stains on Christian History.
From a translation standpoint in this passage - “good person” does better job at getting to the meaning most helpful for our usage and community. “Pastor” or “saint” or “leader” could also fit in well. Similarly, “tax-collector” lacks the power in modern english to convey the meaning of this story. Bad person is perfectly sufficient, although terrorist or traitor would also provide useful insight.
In Summary:
What out for “Protagonist Bias” as you read the Bible (or live life)
Turn a critical eye to toward the ways we engage the Bible and its culturally rich terms
