|
10"Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was of the Pious Party, and the other was a dishonest tax collector. 11The proud Pious Party member stood by himself and prayed this prayer: `I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there! For I never cheat, I don't sin, I don't commit adultery, 12I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, `O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' 14I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored." (Luke 18, NLT Adapted)
One of the greatest and most subtle temptations among the religious and those who call themselves spiritual is pride. This pride in her own good works or ethical character is often called self-righteousness.
Self-righteousness is a contradiction. A brief look at the concept of righteousness among the Jews and that taken up in the New Testament is helpful here.
E. R. Achtemeier (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible) writes:
Righteousness as it is understood in the O[ld] T[estament] is a thoroughly Hebraic concept, foreign to the Western mind and at variance with the common understanding of the term. The failure to comprehend its meaning is perhaps most responsible for the view of OT religion as "legalistic" and as far removed from the graciousness of the N[ew] T[estament].
|
|
Achtemeier comments that righteousness is not some things. Righteousness is not, for example, “behavior in accordance with an ethical, legal, psychological, religious, or spiritual norm.” Righteousness is not “giving every man his just due.”
What is righteousness? Righteousness is the “fulfilment [sic] of the demands of a relationship, whether that relationship be with men or with God.” And, this righteousness is a dynamic concept, for “the demands may differ from relationship to relationship; righteousness in one situation may be unrighteousness in another.” Then, possibly, a striking remark for most of us is the next point: Further, there is no norm of righteousness outside the relationship itself. When God or man fulfils the conditions imposed upon him by a relationship, he is, in OT terms, righteous.
In the Gospel story above, we see a person who is conventionally pious. However, he is self-righteousness, in that he is enamored with his own feelings and estimation of goodness, as evidenced by how many times he refers to himself in the first person. Likewise, every reference to others or the tax collector is detracting of them and extolling of himself.
This man is not fulfilling the demands of his relationship with God, for he is in a posture of feeling himself superior to another. Ironically, in his acts of piety he has separated himself both from God and his fellow person. The acts that are meant to open his heart to others in compassion and to God have served to magnify his own need of feeling right and better, thus shutting his own heart from God and others. He is a man in the prison of his own self-infatuation, observing his own parade in honor of himself. And, this is most deleterious, for he is using the acts of traditional religion, which in themselves are beautiful and good, to stink of a defecating personal goodness.
Continued... |
