by Jean Allen
At first glance, this Gospel parable seems to be just encouraging us to do God’s will rather than saying we will but never getting around to it. Fair enough. That’s important. But Jesus wasn’t just giving a lesson in general to his followers; he was speaking directly to the Jewish Chief Priests and Elders. He was making a point about the self-righteousness that precludes a person from really listening for and hearing the voice of God.
I think we all feel we can easily identify a self-righteous person and, no doubt, we can when witnessing someone who exudes self-righteousness in the way the pharisee did when comparing himself to the publican in another text. But what about our own pockets of self-righteousness? Are we as adept at recognizing those pernicious little pockets?
Part of the definition of self-righteousness is ‘the belief that one’s own goodness, correctness, or virtue makes one morally superior to others and entitles one to judge, exclude, or condemn them.’ The key phrase is ‘one’s own goodness’. That means that, subconsciously, my righteousness comes from me, from my achievements, my morality, my theology, my sacrifices, and my religious observances. My identity comes from comparing myself to others. Several examples: “I have been more involvedand done more than most people.” “I follow the liturgical guidelines scrupulously but those people don’t.” “I have more experience, therefore I know best.” “I have prayer time every morning without fail; I doubt if she/he does.” You get the gist.
The more one gives in to self-righteousness, the harder it becomes to be compassionate and it becomes almost impossible to recognize God’s heart and hear his will. And the ones we think we’re better than have more capacity to act with God’s compassion than we do.
Just think of the last time you criticized someone, either out loud or in your heart. There you go. That came from self-righteousness. Kind of shocking isn’t it?
We all have a long way to go.
