Needlessly dividing...seeking common good

In Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, Thomas Merton offers this definition of a pharisee: "A pharisee is a righteous [person] whose righteousness is nourished by the blood of sinners." Merton has in mind not only the Pharisaic party we often see portrayed negatively in the New Testament but also people who embody that portrayal. Pharisees claim righteousness only by pointing to the corruptness in an opponent's methods, purposes, or person. For pharisees to feel or be good or right, opponents have to be evil or wrong.

Such thinking and practice abound, needlessly dividing the world into mutually exclusively categories and making it difficult for us to build on what we have in common. It also claims identity by stating what we are not rather than what we are.

Evil and good abide in all of us and we all have the capacity for wickedness and righteousness. Certain people clearly choose to act on their capacity for wickedness more than their righteousness, but the good do not need for that to happen in order to choose to act differently. Every denial of the sanctity of life, every thought or act that damages community and everything that brings out our worst instead of our best is tragic. That tragedy does not diminish when those who deem themselves good isolate themselves, but when we deepen our resolve to celebrate life, build community, and identify that on which we can work together. We rarely have the opportunity to choose between something clearly and totally wicked and something clearly and totally good. Rather we have opportunities to discern the path or option that seems best. Those who prefer a different path or option are not necessarily wicked. They may use different criteria in their decision making. Debating those criteria does more good than vilification, even when we fail to reach consensus.

Needing an opponent to be wrong to deem ourselves right often evades accountability. When I adamantly declare that I am not Catholic, evangelical, Republican, Russian, or contrarian, I have not stated who or what I am. We all benefit when preachers, politicians, pundits, and people with opinions clarify not what they oppose but what they stand for, deem important, and most want and value. The dust and heat of vitriol typically only harm. Dreams and hopes of what can be, even when varied, at least make it possible to help and to heal.

We are such wonderfully diverse creatures that seeking the common good is never easy. Yet, the possibilities make it worth the effort. Paul had something like that in mind when he advised, "Beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8). We cannot avoid opponents and adversaries, but we can avoid deeming them demonic. Let's reach for righteousness in ways that reflect our conviction that God provides sufficient righteousness for us all.

Grace and Peace,

LP