Above: Donkeys, Lancaster County, Nebraska, 1938
Photographer = John Vachon
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-USF33-T01-001266-M4
Righteousness and Self-Righteousness
FEBRUARY 8 and 9, 2022
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The Collect:
Most Holy God, the earth is filled with your glory,
and before you angels and saints stand in awe.
Enlarge our vision to see your power at work in the world,
and by your grace make us heralds of your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 24
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The Assigned Readings:
1 Samuel 9:15-10:1b (Tuesday)
Isaiah 8:1-15 (Wednesday)
Psalm 115 (Both Days)
1 Timothy 3:1-9 (Tuesday)
Luke 5:27-32 (Wednesday)
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Not to us, O LORD, not to us,
but to your Name give glory;
because of your love and because of your faithfulness.
–Psalm 115:1, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
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As I heard growing up, God does not call the qualified. No, God qualifies the called. King Saul came from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest of the twelve tribes of Israel. He was self-conscious of this fact. In 1 Timothy 3 not being puffed up is among the qualifications for being a bishop. All that we have comes from God, whom alone people should revere and hold in sacred awe.
Self-righteousness is something to avoid. Each of us is sinful and broken. The tax collectors (who lived off that they stole from their fellow countrymen and women in excess of the tax rates) and other sinners were no more or less sinful and broken than the scribes and Pharisees who criticized Jesus for dining with them. The major difference seems to have been that some broken sinners were conscious of their brokenness and sinfulness while others were not.
Tradition can be useful and beautiful; it frequently is just that. There are, however, bad traditions as well as good traditions which have become outdated or which apply in some settings yet not in others. Even good traditions can become spiritually destructive if one uses them in that way. A holy life is a positive goal, but certain ways of pursuing it are negative. Defining oneself as a member of the spiritual elite and others as the great unwashed–as people to shun–is negative. Pretending that one is more righteous than one is leads one to overlook major flaws in oneself while criticizing others for major and minor flaws.
Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
–Matthew 7:3-5, The New Revised Standard Version (1989)
Here ends the lesson.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 9, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT DENIS, BISHOP OF PARIS, AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUIS BERTRAN, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY PRIEST
THE FEAST OF ROBERT GROSSETESTE, SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF WILHELM WEXELS, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMN TRANSLATOR; HIS NIECE, MARIE WEXELSEN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN NOVELIST AND HYMN WRITER; LUDWIG LINDEMAN, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN ORGANIST AND MUSICOLOGIST; AND MAGNUS LANDSTAD, NORWEGIAN LUTHERAN MINISTER, FOLKLORIST, HYMN WRITER, AND HYMNAL EDITOR
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https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/righteousness-and-self-righteousness/
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ADVENT, CHRISTMAS, AND EPIPHANY DEVOTIONS 
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