⁴² “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

⁴³ “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honor in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ Yes, what sorrow awaits you! For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on.”

⁴⁵ “Teacher,” said an expert in religious law, “you have insulted us, too, in what you just said.”

⁴⁶ “Yes,” said Jesus, “what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden.

Luke 11:42-46

Dear God, I’ve had a frustration rolling around in my head over the last 12 or so hours that my first temptation is to take these verses and apply them to the people who are frustrating me, making them the Pharisees and experts in the law and me, well…, Jesus. Okay, even on the face of it, that is absurd. But one thing you’ve taught me to do when I read a biblical story that includes clear delineations between good people and bad people is that I need to first consider that I might be the bad guy in the story. How am I like the Pharisee or expert in the law? Does Jesus have an admonition and correction for me in his words here?

So let me start with the idea that I might be missing the important things. Are there important things I’m missing? And how do we define important? I might tend to think of great political policies as important. I might even think of programs in our city that could help the poor. That could be important (and I think on Jesus’s “important scale” that might be closer to important than the political policy issues). But maybe the most important is the person right in front of me and their need. Am I missing them.

Here’s an example that you just brought to mind. There was an elderly woman in our clinic yesterday. She was there for a dental appointment. She was frustrated that she paid $30 for her first visit in over a year, which by policy was an exam and x-ray only when it’s been that long since a visit, and now she was having to pay another $30 for a separate visit, which was a cleaning. She mentioned that she only had $37 left in her account. We told her she could owe us for the cleaning, but she was still upset she was being charged at all and clearly frustrated. I felt badly for her, but I let her go on her way. I was a little annoyed at how abrupt she was with the staff so my compassion meter got turned down a bit. Now, as I sit here, I’m wondering whether we missed an opportunity to help her. Should we have taken a beat to talk to her about her financial issues and talk with her about resources in the community available to her–utility assistance, food, financial counselors, etc.? Did I miss what’s important?

Father, I am sorry for missing that opportunity yesterday along with so many others. Help me to have real eyes to see and ears to hear what is important. Help me to love. Help me to also re-think our policy and question how we charge patients for their appointments. And find this woman today. Meet her where she is. Help her. I think of the widow and her mite. If this woman is another version of her, help us to be part of your blessing to her.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen