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When we read the accounts of the ministry of Jesus, we find that a popular target of his scorn and wrath were the religious leaders of the day, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. This passage from The Sermon On The Mount will give you the idea: “When  you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.” But what was the problem? All those religious leaders did was to call out, “Look at me”.  Nothing seems to be wrong with that. But there is. 

“Look at me” is the call of pride and vanity, and there is a lot wrong with that. Pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. It is the curse of humankind. It is the demon within all of us. We call it out all of the time. I do it as I write. “Look at Me”. “Look at Me”. “Look at Me”. It leads us to do many bad things. We may not think about it very often, but it is there, and maybe we should think about it.

We don’t see many Pharisees or Sadducees these days, but we are surrounded by their modern counterparts. Now we don’t call out. Rather, we put our names wherever we can. Maybe a donated parkway, public convenience, or park shelter. Maybe a public television program, a library wing, or a planting in the Arboretum. Nothing deceptive. Just credit where credit is due. But there it is: “Look at Me”. “Look at Me”. “Look at Me”. 

There are modern Sadducees and Pharisees.  There always will be. We are them. But there is a better way, a hard way but a better way. Do good, but keep quiet about it. It is a hard way, but it  is the better way.