Evening – Day 6

Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.    Matthew 21:31 b.

Have you ever looked at someone else’s life, and in comparison, you kind of think you are better than them. Maybe you don’t quite want to admit it. I believe we all have at some point thought of ourselves as “good people.” Isn’t this really what we do. We can always find people who we think we are better than. After all, we look at people who have done bad things and think, “I’ve never done those things so I must be a better person.” Or  maybe you think, “I’d never do that.” In this we set ourselves at least morally above others.

The above passage is a sobering statement by Jesus. In Matthew’s story we have a group of religious men who think of themselves as righteous and very good men. These men ask Jesus about his authority to do the things He was doing and who gave him that authority. I love His response, basically, I’ll tell you if you tell me something. He asks them about the source of John’s baptism, God or man. They were afraid to answer.  So instead of answering them, He tell a parable of two men who were asked to help their father. One said no but had remorse and then obeyed. The other said yes and then didn’t go. Jesus asks which did right?  They respond, the one who obeyed. Then Jesus lowers the boom, telling them that John came by the way of righteousness and yet they did not listen to him and believe, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. What an indictment.

These men thought by their own standard of righteousness, that they were better than these tax collectors and prostitutes. They didn’t see themselves as sinners in comparison to others.

Are you a good person?

Romans 3:23 says we have all sinned and fallen short. This is a reminder that we cannot place ourselves in the seat of judgment or comparison. The only standard is God’s. The question is, have I obeyed and believed Him?

40 days of lent