Articles
A Problem on the Roads
I have a problem.
To get to the church building, I have to drive through Rogersville. If you haven’t been there, it is one of those small towns where the speed limit goes down (from 60 mph to a crawling 45 mph) and the cops are out to get you. I’ve heard people joke about cops trying to reach their monthly quota of speeding tickets, but that’s no joke in Rogersville—at least, not according to a retired police officer who warned me about the neighboring small town. When I drive through, there are cars pulled over so often, I have no reason to doubt him. The police camp out with their radar gun pointed at the crest of a hill just waiting to catch someone driving into town too fast.
They are going to get me one of these days. When I get lost in my thoughts, it is easy to miss the speed limit changes. I usually catch myself fairly quickly, but fairly quickly isn’t fast enough when the cops are out to get you. One of these days it will happen. But that isn’t my problem.
My problem is that on those occasions when I do remember to slow down, and I’ve set my cruise control to 45, I often get passed. Some have forgotten the speed limit change. Some are just driving through for the first time and don’t realize the nature of the town they are about to enter. As I watch the speeding driver near the top of the hill, almost to the speed trap, a voice inside me hopes the cop is on the other side waiting to catch the speeder. I was going the speed limit (that time) so I didn’t need to worry about the cop, but that other guy. Ooh, he needed to be stopped. That inner voice…that’s my problem.
Have you ever seen a person driving in such a way that you looked around, hoping a police officer was watching? Have you ever cheered or felt satisfaction when those lights turn on and the offender is pulled over? Sure, the driver has done something worthy of a ticket. But haven’t you done the same thing, or, at least, something similar?
How is it that we can dread getting a ticked but be hopeful that someone else gets one? How can we look down on other’s behavior when we’ve been just as guilty? It’s called hypocrisy and self-righteousness, and it’s a big deal. A real problem.
“You must not be like the hypocrites” (Mt. 6:5). Jesus rebukes hypocrisy at least four times in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7) and another six times in His lashing rebuke of the Pharisees (Mt. 23). Woe to hypocrites! He didn’t have very nice things to say about those who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt” either (Lk. 18:9).
In all of those cases, Jesus was not speaking about something as trivial as traffic laws, but hypocrisy and self-righteousness are attitudes which permeate all aspects of our lives. It is about who we are and where our heart is. It poisons the way that we think about others. Worse, it hurts our relationship with God, leading to rebukes rather than rewards.
It is so easy to get caught up in a desire for justice while being guilty sinners ourselves. It is easy to look down on others in those moments when we are doing what is right. It is just too easy. Sometimes we need the reminder to examine ourselves and our attitudes towards others. If I’m being a hypocrite and self-righteous on the roads, where else might I be that way?
