Chapter 5: The Pharisee and the Child

Read the first half of Chapter 5, where Manning introduces the Pharisee. In his telling, a person becomes a Pharisee by treating the Bible as a manual of directions rather than a love story, and by legalism. He describes the Pharisee as a religious form of the impostor, with two telltale signs: admiring yourself and despising others. The Child, by contrast, is the true self who shows the qualities God wants.

Jesus's parable in Luke 18 fits those two signs almost like a diagram. Luke says Jesus told it "to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt." There they are, side by side. Trusting in yourself is the admiring part. Contempt is the despising part. They usually travel together, because if my goodness is something I built, I need someone to be better than.

Now listen to the Pharisee's prayer: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men." Most of that prayer is a comparison. He lists what he does, fasting and tithing, and what others do. God shows up mostly as an audience. It's worth noticing that the things he lists are not bad things. Fasting and giving are good. The problem is what he is doing with them. He is using them as proof.

The tax collector has nothing to display. He stands far off, won't lift his eyes, and says, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" Jesus says this man "went down to his house justified, rather than the other." The man who stopped managing his image was the one who went home right with God.

What about the rulebook idea? In John 5:39-40, Jesus tells religious leaders that they search the Scriptures, thinking eternal life is in them, yet refuse to come to him. They had the pages but missed the person the pages point to. Reading the Bible as a love story doesn't make it less serious. It changes the question from "What do I have to do to measure up?" to "Who is speaking to me here, and what does he want me to know?"

This is easy to spot in someone else and hard to spot in yourself. A few clues: a quick inner scoreboard, a little pleasure when someone else stumbles, or a Bible reading that leaves you feeling either smug or crushed. Both can be signs that you've turned the book into a test.

If you find yourself stuck in harsh self-judgment, always afraid you haven't done enough, that's worth sharing with a pastor or counselor. Scrupulosity is real, and you don't have to untangle it alone.

Read the second half of Chapter 5. Yesterday we looked at the Pharisee. Today we meet the Child, the true self in Manning's telling. He ties the practice of Sabbath to knowing you are beloved. Accepting God's unconditional love, he says, brings delight, freedom, and rest. Hiding squelches peace and shifts the weight onto personal effort, as it did for the Pharisees.

Jesus's disciples asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" That is a Pharisee question, a ranking question. Jesus doesn't give a ranking. He calls a child over and puts the child "in the midst of them." Then he says, "unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Notice the word "turn." This is a change of direction, away from the climb. And then: "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

What is it about a child? Not innocence exactly, and not a spotless record. A child is dependent. A child receives meals, clothes, and a bed without having earned them. Rest comes easily when you know somebody else is running the house.

That is the spirit of Sabbath. When Israel was told to rest, one reason given in Deuteronomy 5:15 was to remember they had been slaves in Egypt and that God had brought them out. Rest is a sign of freedom. Slaves never get a day off, and children of God do. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). It's a gift, and it was never meant to become one more standard to fail.

So here is the test of whether you've made rest a rule. If your Sabbath leaves you anxious that you did it wrong, you may be performing your way through it. If it leaves you a little more aware that the world kept going without you and God held it fine, you're receiving.

Sabbath also exposes hiding. When the work stops, the noise stops, and what you've been avoiding may show up: restlessness, guilt, or a sense of being worthless unless you produce. Don't panic when that happens. That is useful information about where you've been finding your identity. Bring it to God as it is.

If stopping brings up deep pain, like grief or old wounds, please tell a pastor, counselor, or trusted friend rather than pushing through alone.