The parable of the pharisee and tax collector in Luke 18 is a dagger in the heart for someone like me who likes to make a big deal about his righteousness. I like to be right. A lot. My righteousness has many different faces. I have parenting righteousness which means that I raise Jackson and Anna Sloan the right way. I have music righteousness which means that I only listen to the right kind of music. I have merging-traffic righteousness which means that I merge when I first see the signs to get over. Space does not permit for me to list the rest, but you get the idea. The ugly result of this kind of righteousness is that my parenting righteousness, music righteousness and merging-traffic righteousness cause me to look down on and hold people who don’t follow my righteousness in contempt. That’s what the Pharisee did to the tax collector and the others who didn’t share his same level of righteousness. It’s no wonder that his righteousness was an ugly one and unacceptable to Jesus, much to the shock of those who held the Pharisees in high esteem. The only righteousness that is truly pleasing and beautiful before God is Jesus’ righteousness. It’s the only righteousness that we should boast in and look to. The Bible talks about our righteousness, our good deeds, as filthy rags…unsightly and unusable. Lord, help me to see, like the tax collector, my sin and my need for mercy. Help me not to trust in my righteousness but in Christ’s.

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