Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011412.cfm
There are many reasons we can be snobs and look down on others. In today's Gospel, Jesus warns us of religious snobbery, a form of snobbery where we think we are holy and look down on others because they are sinners. The scribes (experts in the Mosaic law) in today's Gospel thought their spiritual stuff did not stink, and so they not only looked down on the prostitutes and sinners who followed Jesus, but they also looked down on Jesus for associating with them.
The truth is, the scribes were sinners too; it is just that they did not know it. As such, they were spiritually in a worse place than the prostitutes and sinners who saw themselves according to truth. The scribes' blindness to their real condition kept them from turning to Christ for salvation.
Lest we make the same mistake as the scribes, it is important for us to keep in mind that, in and of ourselves, we are sinners. We are beloved by God, but we are sinners nonetheless; and any spiritual good that is in us has been put there by the grace of God. Were it not for that grace, the spiritual good would not be there. It may be the case that we do not do some of the sins for which we criticize others (although we probably do most of them), but we commit sins; and if grace were not in our lives, we would be worse sinners than we are.
You know, the only one who has ever had the right to be a religious snob is Jesus, yet he was not. He came to call sinners, and anyone who has ever followed Jesus is a sinner; so let us have an honest estimation of ourselves by realizing we are in the same camp as every other human being, that is, we are sinners who are beloved by God in Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment