Self Righteousness
A friend of mine posted on his socials the other day recounting a prayer that he had said some many years ago to God. His prayer started off with a declaration of his good works and of his obedience to God’s commandments (whatever those were), and he contrasted it to the other parents that were trying to get their children into a school of their choice.
Except that the school that he had chosen was the school that he himself attended when he was younger. His grouse was that the other parents did not have the appreciation of his school and the traditions of excellent conduct, good academia and long-standing history and culture. Of course he was glad that his child managed to get in, but the fact that these other group of parents also got in, made him unhappy and disgruntled.
Reading his lament on social media reminded me of the Gospel of Luke 18:9-14, where a self-righteous Pharisee obsessed by his own virtue, was similarly contrasted in a story by Jesus where the other person was a tax collector who humbly came before God to ask for mercy. The Pharisee felt that he was more holy then the other man and thus felt that he deserved mercy more than the other person who was a tax collector.
I can’t help but to be brought to remembrance this passage as I felt a sense of de ja vu come on me. The similarity between his complaint and that of the self-righteous Pharisee was just uncanny. Evidently, the mercy of God is not meted out to us based on our self-righteous works or acts, but by faith which pleases God our Father.