March 1: The Pharisee and the Publican
♫ Music:
Day 16 - Thursday, March 1
Title: The Pharisee and the Publican
Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Poetry: Matins
By Malachi Black
The floating endlessly again:
the glowing and the growing back
again as I am as I can and I can stand.
I understand.
Though I am fashioned
in the haggard image of a man,
I am an atom of the aperture.
I am as a nerve inside a gland.
I understand. Though I am fashioned
as I am, I am a perch for the eternal
and a purse for what it lends.
I understand.
Though flakes of fire
overwhelm the fallen snow, though ice
caps melt, though oceans freeze or overflow,
somehow I am sturdier, more sure.
THE MAN IN BLACK
“The Man in Black,” the moniker of legendary country singer Johnny Cash, was an imposing figure on stage; one that commanded admiration and respect from fans and peers alike. His deep gritty voice sang of a life marked by sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption. Cash’s music bridged the musical genres of rock, gospel, and country music, and established him not only as an icon of American culture, but as a musical superstar leaving an incomparable legacy on the musical landscape.
Yet behind the stage lights and the acclaim, there was a broken man whose life was marked both by great faith and humbling addiction, by extreme highs and the depths of despair. His well-documented struggles with drug abuse, alcoholism, and dysfunctional relationships struck a resonant chord with those who had faced similar hardships. His son, John Carter, said: “I believe the thing about Dad that people find so easy to relate to is that he was willing to expose his most cumbersome burdens, his most consuming darknesses. He wasn’t afraid to go through the fire and say: ‘I fell down. I’ve made mistakes. I’m weak. I hurt.’ But in doing so, he gained some sort of defining strength. Every moment of darkness enabled him to better see the light.”
In October of 1967, Cash was at what he considered the darkest point in his life. His personal and professional lives had spun out of control, and he had become isolated from everyone around him. He had built his life on the fleeting nature of fame and fortune. Feeling like he could no longer go on, he decided to end his life. “I never wanted to see another dawn,” Cash recounted later, “I had wasted my life. I had drifted so far away from God and every stabilizing force in my life that I felt there was no hope for me.”
Driving his Jeep to Nickajack Cave, a remote subterranean cave near the Tennessee River, he entered the mouth of cave, hoping to descend deep enough within the labyrinth of passageways, to never be found alive. After hours of crawling inside the tunnels, he lay down in the consuming blackness to die. “The absolute lack of light was appropriate, for at that moment I was as far from God as I had ever been,” Cash remembered. Yet as he lay in that dark abyss, he began to focus on God and suddenly he felt overcome by a sensation of complete peace. With a renewed sense of hope, he began to slowly inch his way along the cave floor blindly crawling towards what he hoped was the outside. A slight breeze led him to a stream of light, which eventually led him to the outside world.
After emerging from the cave, Cash earnestly committed himself to God and promised to “do whatever it took to get off drugs.” He kept that promise, and in time recovered both his strength and sanity. “I rebuilt my connection to God,” he said. From that time forward, Cash knew both personal and professional success, but more importantly there had been a real and profound spiritual awakening from his cave experience. God had divinely intervened in his life. For Cash, the ascendance from the underground cave represented a spiritual rebirth and a self-revelation that resulted in a renewed connection with God. He had entered Nickajack Cave with the oppressive blackness of sin consuming him and had emerged a redeemed man of God. He summed it up this way in his autobiography, Cash: The Autobiography, “The greatest joy of my life was that I no longer felt separated from Him. Now He is my Counselor, my Rock of Ages to stand upon.”
However, Cash’s life was not all smooth sailing after that, as the specter of addiction often stalked him again and again. But he had found the redemptive forgiveness and healing power of Jesus Christ, an ever-steadfast anchor in his life. Humble enough to confess his brokenness to God and to the world, Cash always returned to the cross for forgiveness and redemption. And God always met Cash there, just as He had in the depths of Nickajack Cave. It is in this same way that He meets each of us in our darkest times. Todays’ parable reminds us of the need for humble penitence when Jesus contrasts the self-serving prayer of the Pharisee, and the simple prayer of the tax collector, a man who would've been reviled in Jewish society. The tax collector prays for mercy, as we all must, realizing his own sin and his need for God. As we examine and reflect upon our lives during this season of Lent, we are reminded that the Lord extends grace and mercy to those who honestly seek Him with repentant hearts, and are reminded of His faithful presence amid the greatest of tribulations.
Prayer:
Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Amen
About the Artwork:
Triptych: 11th, 12th, and 13th Stations of the Cross for Latin America: La Pasión
11th Station - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross
12th Station - Jesus Dies on the Cross
13th Station - Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross
Michael Tracy
1981-1988
Mixed media installation with tin on canvas
31 ft wide
Collection of the Artist
Artist Michael Tracy is passionate about Italian religious art, from Duccio to Caravaggio, and struggles with how the credibility and authority of organized religion, which has been increasingly challenged, can be rescued and preserved in contemporary art practice. His work is physically tactile. The 3-panel canvas of this work resembles an expansive landscape – textured with nails, human hair, and shards of glass. The canvas is intentionally ripped and it sags from its own weight. But in this wasteland that might represent great human despair and neglect, there are traces of gold. For Tracy, this gold represents God’s faithful presence amid the greatest of tribulations.
About the Artist:
Michael Tracy (b. 1943) is an American artist best-known for his sculptures using the Minimalist and conceptual tendencies of the 80s and early 90s. He has sold many works at auction and his many gallery and museum exhibitions include the Amarillo Museum of Art. For the last decade he has lived along the U.S. - Mexico border and has based his art on Mexican religious iconography. Recently he has dedicated pieces to victims of war in Nicaragua and El Salvador and to martyrs such as Salvadoran Bishop Oscar Romero.
About the Music:
“Why Me Lord?” from the album American Recordings
Lyrics:
Why me Lord, what have I ever done
To deserve even one
Of the pleasures I've known
Tell me Lord, what did I ever do
That was worth loving you
Or the kindness you've shown.
Lord help me Jesus, I've wasted it so
Help me Jesus I know what I am
Now that I know that I've needed you so
Help me Jesus, my soul's in your hand.
Tell me Lord, if you think there's a way
I can try to repay
All I've taken from you
Maybe Lord, I can show someone else
What I've been through myself
On my way back to you.
About the Composer:
Kris Kristofferson (b. 1936) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. He has written some of the most well-known contemporary songs including: "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," and "Help Me Make It Through the Night". "Why Me Lord?" was recorded by Kristofferson in 1972 and features backing vocals by Rita Coolidge and singer-songwriter Larry Gatlin. According to country music historian Bill Malone, Kristofferson wrote the song during an emotionally low period of his life after having attended a religious service. Malone also described Kristofferson's gruff vocal styling as "perfect" for the song, since "he sounds like a man who has lived a lot but is now humbling himself before God."
About the Performer:
Johnny Cash (1932–2003) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. Cash was known for his deep, calm bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, an increasingly humble demeanor, free prison concerts, and a trademark all-black stage wardrobe that earned him the nickname "The Man in Black." Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the latter stages of his career. His signature songs include "I Walk the Line", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Ring of Fire," "Get Rhythm", and "Man in Black". During the last stage of his career, Cash covered songs by several late 20th-century rock artists, notably "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.
About the Poet:
Malachi Black is an American poet. Black earned his MFA from the University of Texas at Austin’s Michener Center for Writers in 2010, and his PhD in Literature with a Creative Writing emphasis from the University of Utah in 2014. The recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Black is currently at work on his second collection of poetry, Indirect Light. In his first book, Storm Toward Morning published in 2014, Black sought to address questions of pain and suffering in life with highly meditative poems that use repetition and philosophical/religious allusions that double as prayers.
About the Devotional Writer:
N. Rountree