NOTES for Rom 2:1-11; Luk 11:42-46
How intelligent, upright, and perceptive we all are when we look at other people’s actions! We immediately see where they are acting against reason, against conscience, or against moral standards. Where does all this go when it comes to our own actions? We immediately find all sorts of reasons, circumstances, and excuses...
The correspondence between today’s two readings is remarkable! In the Epistle to the Romans Paul writes: “Do you really think, O man, that you will escape God’s judgment when you condemn those who do such things and do the same things yourself?” And in the Gospel of Luke the Lord addresses Israel’s “spiritual leaders”: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.” Our attempt to justify ourselves by exalting ourselves over those whom we consider more sinful than we are is futile. God shows no partiality. He looks at us not by comparing us with one another but at each of us as we are. His standard of judgment is not relative but absolute, and we earn “plus points” only when we are guided by God’s love.