Luke 11- Me, Myself, and the Pharisees

I'm no Biblical scholar, and I know there are plenty of people who could tell you more than I can about the Pharisees and the lawyers. But I'm going to write out my thoughts anyway. ;)

There is something in me that loves reading the passages where Jesus puts the Pharisees in their place. I love how clearly he points out that looking good on the outside and doing everything "right" on the outside is not what God wants. I love how he reminds them that God wants people to clean up on the inside too, to purge the greed and wickedness from their hearts and to practice justice and love. And I get a little bit of satisfaction when he lets the lawyers have it, too- people who expected others to live up to the letter of the law without understanding God's grace and mercy.

But then I wonder if I should really like that so much. I wonder how often I read these words- how often Christians read these words- and think, "Yeah, Jesus, you tell 'em!" without ever questioning whether we look like the Pharisees or the lawyers ourselves. How often do we slip into the mindset of striving to make ourselves appear holy and righteous while on the inside we are a greedy, angry, bitter mess? And how often do we expect other people to flawlessly live up to an impossible standard without showing any mercy or grace (and without helping them understand God's mercy and grace)?

I don't want to be smugly satisfied and say, "Yeah, Jesus, you tell 'em!" when I read passages like this. Instead, I want to seriously look at myself and see if Jesus could be speaking to me along with the Pharisees and lawyers.