False Self
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Matthew 23:1 – 12
Focus Passage:
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
"Everything they do is done for people to see.” (Matt. 23:1 – 5)
The Pharisees and teachers of the law have a bad Sunday School reputation. We’ve beat up on them for years, cast them as the “bad guys,” as those who were stubborn and opposed to Jesus, as those who stood in the way of God. In truth, their faith expression was much like ours, consisting in prescribed rituals and regulations for life. As a group, they were not nefarious people. They simply insisted on putting new wine into old wineskins.
Jesus’ main concern with Pharisee-religion was its preoccupation with the externals of faith, with appearances. Pharisee-religion didn’t touch the heart or transform the deep inner pockets of a person.
The key line in the passage says simply, “Everything they do is done for people to see.” It’s easy to throw stones at the Pharisees, but when faith is distilled to, “Everything they do is done for people to see,” we each are guilty in varying degrees.
Jesus noticed that persons were drawn to a life with God out of self-serving motives. We humans seem much concerned with what others think of us, our appearance and image before other humans. We are not beyond using God to increase our standing with others.
Sometimes in a workshop or class, I’ll make a comment about self-serving expressions of faith. “How many of us would participate in some expression of faith if we thought we wouldn’t get anything out of it?” Many people find that to be a strange question, wondering why I would suggest that self-serving religion was wrong.
In contemporary spirituality, the phrase for this over-the-top concern for image and appearance is the “false self.” The false self refers to a life of self-centeredness and illusion, given to the image we project into the world and the ways we defend that image. “Everything they do is done for people to see,” is a statement of the false self. It suggests an orientation toward life which is focused on the self’s appearance as I want my self to appear.
Jesus ended the passage with a word about humility. Humility is not thinking, “I am worthless.” It is not a way to keep myself in a state of low self-esteem. Rather, humility suggests that I have the appropriate recognition of who I am, both my false self and my truest self, the self that is God-created and God-nourished.
Humility is the acceptance of myself as I am, regardless of what it looks like to others and regardless of what others think about it. Humility values my own God-created worth without needing the validation of other persons. The person who lives this life of humility also has tremendous inner freedom, that is, the inward resolve to live out their God-created essence no matter what the exterior climate is.
For Reflection:
What embarrasses you? Can you think of a time, perhaps recently when you felt embarrassed before others? Or perhaps we could use the word “humiliated” . . . when have you felt humiliated? With embarrassment and humiliation usually comes shame.
The point of this reflection is not to feel bad about yourself; rather, we are seeking to learn something about ourselves in God. Usually we feel embarrassment or humiliation when someone else sees something about us qhixh we would rather keep hidden. We want others to see the best about us, not the worst. “Everything they do is done for people to see.”
If you can identify times you have felt embarrassed or humiliated before others, you may have a glimpse of the false self which continually seeks to guard your reputation . . . and engineers how others see you and what they think of you.
Here’s the beautiful part: God has seen this part of you all along and still has loved you and called you a son or daughter of God!
Daily Reading: Matthew 23:1 – 12
Focus Passage:
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
"Everything they do is done for people to see.” (Matt. 23:1 – 5)
The Pharisees and teachers of the law have a bad Sunday School reputation. We’ve beat up on them for years, cast them as the “bad guys,” as those who were stubborn and opposed to Jesus, as those who stood in the way of God. In truth, their faith expression was much like ours, consisting in prescribed rituals and regulations for life. As a group, they were not nefarious people. They simply insisted on putting new wine into old wineskins.
Jesus’ main concern with Pharisee-religion was its preoccupation with the externals of faith, with appearances. Pharisee-religion didn’t touch the heart or transform the deep inner pockets of a person.
The key line in the passage says simply, “Everything they do is done for people to see.” It’s easy to throw stones at the Pharisees, but when faith is distilled to, “Everything they do is done for people to see,” we each are guilty in varying degrees.
Jesus noticed that persons were drawn to a life with God out of self-serving motives. We humans seem much concerned with what others think of us, our appearance and image before other humans. We are not beyond using God to increase our standing with others.
Sometimes in a workshop or class, I’ll make a comment about self-serving expressions of faith. “How many of us would participate in some expression of faith if we thought we wouldn’t get anything out of it?” Many people find that to be a strange question, wondering why I would suggest that self-serving religion was wrong.
In contemporary spirituality, the phrase for this over-the-top concern for image and appearance is the “false self.” The false self refers to a life of self-centeredness and illusion, given to the image we project into the world and the ways we defend that image. “Everything they do is done for people to see,” is a statement of the false self. It suggests an orientation toward life which is focused on the self’s appearance as I want my self to appear.
Jesus ended the passage with a word about humility. Humility is not thinking, “I am worthless.” It is not a way to keep myself in a state of low self-esteem. Rather, humility suggests that I have the appropriate recognition of who I am, both my false self and my truest self, the self that is God-created and God-nourished.
Humility is the acceptance of myself as I am, regardless of what it looks like to others and regardless of what others think about it. Humility values my own God-created worth without needing the validation of other persons. The person who lives this life of humility also has tremendous inner freedom, that is, the inward resolve to live out their God-created essence no matter what the exterior climate is.
For Reflection:
What embarrasses you? Can you think of a time, perhaps recently when you felt embarrassed before others? Or perhaps we could use the word “humiliated” . . . when have you felt humiliated? With embarrassment and humiliation usually comes shame.
The point of this reflection is not to feel bad about yourself; rather, we are seeking to learn something about ourselves in God. Usually we feel embarrassment or humiliation when someone else sees something about us qhixh we would rather keep hidden. We want others to see the best about us, not the worst. “Everything they do is done for people to see.”
If you can identify times you have felt embarrassed or humiliated before others, you may have a glimpse of the false self which continually seeks to guard your reputation . . . and engineers how others see you and what they think of you.
Here’s the beautiful part: God has seen this part of you all along and still has loved you and called you a son or daughter of God!
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