[published on July 5, 2005, in "The Flatland Oracles," my previous blog]
What does sanctimony smell like?
Not good, if I understand the Gostpels correctly. A well-polished sepulchre full of rotting bones would look pretty, but the state of what's inside it doesn't bear thinking about.
I don't think Jesus would have been as fond of some of the more vocal Christians I know as they seem to think. I am not sure what the Syriac was for "I don't actually like you that much," but I think it might have been "Hypocrite." He used the word a lot---and generally seems to have directed it toward the most conscientiously righteous and rigorous members of his community.
Does Jesus really want the contemporary purveyors of righteousness to be his sunbeams? I'm sure some of them live as blamelessly as they purport to do, but on the other hand, they are so judgmental. They're often unpleasant people who seem to rejoice more in the exposure and casting out of sinners and in the trappings of righteousness than they do in all the mercies that Christ recommended.
