Luke 18: 9-14

Justice Reflection for October 27, 2013
Luke 18:9-14. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Every time I read this parable I laugh out loud because inescapably my first thought is "God, I thank you that I am not like that Pharisee who thinks he is not like the tax collector," and my next thought inevitably is "God, I thank you that am not like those people who think they are not like the Pharisee who thinks he is not . . . ". You see where this is going?  The endless internal jockeying for a morally superior position.  Moral superiority lets us feel we are more worthy than some others.  Moral superiority lets us think we deserve all the benefits we have and they do not -- they can't have been trying hard enough.

Deep down, we know it's not a level playing field.  What might happen if it were leveled, just a little?  The ten-year-old Odyssey Project is finding out.  Disadvantaged people in South Madison can volunteer to spend a year at the Park Street branch of the public library studying a rigorous program in the Humanities through UW-Madison.  At the end of the year, they -- and their families -- are transformed.  A common comment: "I didn't think I was smart enough to understand Shakespeare" or Plato or Beethoven.  Here are a couple of excerpts from a poem written by Odyssey graduate Madison Police Officer Anthony Ward, the father of five, and a UW student majoring in Community and Nonprofit Leadership:

"I am persuaded to move to prove
That the knowledge I gain will add to the groove.
The groove that is God, and the songs that he sings
Are more than just lyrical but bring miracles that ride on angels' wings.

"My journey has been played in a lot of different keys,
Some major, some minor, all kinds of melodies.
Not Bach, or Beethoven, but inspired by such,
Composed by Plato and Shakespeare, a non-conservative touch.

"My voice, my song, my music, will never be just mine
Because I've learned, heard, and seen for myself
That all I am is because of those who made music before me.

"Can you hear that sweet, sorrowful, happy, sad, inspiring,
Liberating, literate, compassionate, angry song?"