Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Law-Obsessed "Christian" and The Illegal Immigrant:

A Contemporary Paraphrase of Luke 18:9-14

9 To some who are confident of their own righteousness and look down on everyone else, consider this contemporary paraphrase of Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Law-Obsessed "Christian" and the other an Illegal Immigrant.

11 The law-obsessed "Christian" stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this illegal immigrant.

12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 But the illegal immigrant stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”


(Based upon the idea of a highly-regarded colleague in the Theology department of the School where I teach and adapted from the New International Version.)

1 comment:

Mr. Mcgranor said...

The regard towards illegal or legal immigration is a rationalyzation due to the political incorrecteness of being concerned with the detriment that Mexican and hispanic culture has on our native culture. In my view--'culture' popularly is Mcdonalds and Disneylands. So substituting what has been lost with a foreign culture--to me is not desirable.