There’s nothing wrong with reading this passage as a general moral exhortation. Most of us could learn to be more diligent in the examination of our conscience and to be more gentle in our scrutiny of others’ behavior. From this perspective Jesus’ message is close to that of Michael Jackson in his 1988 hit song Man in the Mirror: “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.” But there’s something else going on in this passage from the Gospel of Luke.
In verse 42 Jesus addresses an unnamed opponent as a “hypocrite.” What would this term have meant in the time of Christ? Jesus was certainly not condemning followers of the Jewish law. In Psalm 119 the speaker addresses God: “My heart is set on fulfilling your laws; they are my reward forever. I hate every hypocrite; your teaching I love” (vv. 112-13).
To be a hypocrite was to love the law of God imperfectly or not to love the law of God at all. Jesus in this passage is calling people to a deeply Jewish teaching: the love of the law of God. The prophet Jeremiah heard God tell him about Israel: “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts” (Jer 31:33).
Jesus called his followers to an ancient teaching, but he also offered them a new teaching. Everything Jesus said and did revealed something new about the merciful nature of God (see paragraph 516 of the Catechism). Some people were receptive to his new teaching. Others, out of pride or malevolence, hypocritically judged him to be a blasphemer. Let us pray for soft and gentle hearts, receptive to the new teaching of Christ and eager to be his disciples.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator