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When Our Goodness Becomes Our Greatest Enemy
How self-righteousness is the deepest trap for the human soul
The last time I wrote, I was talking about grace (something that I don’t see myself shutting up about anytime soon). I wrote how, in the Gospel, it’s often the weak who encounter God before the strong. (The impure before the pure. The wounded before the unblemished. Etc.)
To drive this point home, I want to direct our focus to Luke 7:36–50. It’s a really good story, just see…
One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. After he entered the Pharisee’s home, he took his place at the table. Meanwhile, a woman from the city, a sinner, discovered that Jesus was dining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought perfumed oil in a vase made of alabaster. Standing behind him at his feet and crying, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured the oil on them. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw what was happening, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. He would know that she is a sinner.
Jesus replied, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Teacher, speak,” he said.
“A certain lender had two debtors. One owed enough money to pay…
