Insights

Rev Gav

How do we break free from oppressive systems?

Luke 18:9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Reflect

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, in New York City, strands of artistic self-expression morphed into what became known as the hip-hop movement. Oppressed minorities, finding themselves stuck in a system from which they could not escape, used dance, art, and music to rebel against authoritarian and societal control. We see the graffiti, watch the dance moves, or listen to the rapping and it resonates with us because we all recognise the freedom that the creative arts bring to our own lives — even if they have no outward expression and are contained only in our minds.

The story of humanity is a story of people and systems that seek to oppress and control, and the rebels or freedom fighters who set the people free. Whether it is the story of the Exodus or the first released Star Wars film, we all recognise the theme because we have all experienced the narrative, either directly or through recent history. In fact, the greatest story ever told — the Gospel of Jesus Christ — is a story of liberation on multiple levels, including from the twin oppressors called sin and death.

Turning back to first century Palestine and today’s Bible reading, because we cannot detach the characters in the story from the contemporary society in which they lived, we cannot detach Jesus’ ministry and Luke’s emphasis from the context of Roman occupation and a history of a people who had been repeatedly subjugated and enslaved.

We often paint the Pharisees as the bad guys and the poor common people as the good guys, but all the characters we read about in the the gospels found themselves in a system of oppression from which they could not escape. The point of Jesus’ story (that Luke chose to recount) is that, what matters, is our recognition of, and responses to, such systems.

The parable or story of the Pharisee and Tax Collector was not only a comparison of two different people, to assert that one is ‘better’ than the other, or for us to turn the tables and declare ‘thank God I’m not like the Pharisee’, but a heartfelt cry of lament for the oppressive regime in which the the Tax Collector found himself. It was a way of saying, “I am stuck in this crappy social and political system and my very existence depends on me colluding with it. I’m fucked and there’s no way out. God help me!”

The Tax Collector’s cry, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” reminds me of the opening lines of Bohemian Rhapsody, another form of artistic self-expression that resonated with culture, “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality.” Those words can describe the feelings and thoughts of many in our society including, for example, asylum seekers and political or environmental activists. The repeating story of humanity is never far from us, and it is why we resonate and celebrate the work of political activist and opposition leader María Corina Machado of Venezuela, winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

The story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a reminder that there are two options when we find ourselves ‘caught in a landslide’ and the first that is that we can try and replace one form of oppression with another, point the finger, and seek to belittle or subjugate others within the system. Goodness, how our societies are riddled with infighting and power struggles, and where I am right now, in Bermuda, this is expressed through gang culture. There is nothing new under the sun, and history bears witness to how oppressed societies cave in on themselves and become divided into factions — colluders, escapists, fighters, and purists. In Jesus’ day it was no different. There were the Herodians (colluders with the Romans), Essenes (who formed self-supporting desert communities), Zealots (who fought the Romans), and Pharisees (who oppressed others through religious law).

In today’s Bible Reading we have two of the four, a purist and a colluder, and it is the colluder, the Tax Collector, who takes the second option and recognises he is part of an unjust system, the role he has within it, how he is part of the problem, and who turns to God for mercy.

As I have already mentioned, it is not difficult to cross contexts from first century Palestine to present day. We live in a culture from which we cannot escape and one aspect is that we are colluders with a system of oppression that harms the environment. We are totally dependant on fossil fuels and rare earth metals in almost every aspect of our lives; the most obvious examples of which are transport, our electronic devices, and single-use plastics. What will happen to the lead, hexavalent chromium, brominated flame retardants, PVC, phthalates, mercury, and cadmium in our devices? Where is the grid electricity coming from that is being used to power them? It seems that it is almost impossible to live a single day of our lives without our very existence having a negative impact on the precious world (and its inhabitants) that we call home.

Although I applaud the emphasis on ethics, reason, compassion, and human welfare, the reason I am not a humanist is that I do not believe we have the capacity within ourselves to break free from our cycle of self-destruction, no matter how well-meaning we are. The path to redemption — for us and for all creation — starts with the admission of our own guilt and the role we play within a corrupt, broken, and unjust system, and to cry out “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Amen.

Credits

For a background to the Pharisees in this passage check out Simon’ Cross’s Substack.

Photo by Hin Bong Yeung on Unsplash