Luke 11:42-44. One of Jesus' many upbraidings of the Pharisees. Here he says woe to them, for they "tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God." They love the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, but they are like unmarked graves over which men walk without knowing it.

The Pharisees have become complacent, judgmental, and hypocritical. They are too attached to worldly acclaim and status. They see the trees but not the forest - they tithe the herbs, but neglect love of God and neighbor. They are focused on the minutia of the law, and enforce it with vigor, but they don't step back and see the big picture - that people are suffering, that they need guidance and love. This will be their downfall. They might as well enjoy the acclaim and status they have now, because they will be forgotten when they are gone - like unmarked graves - no one will even know they were here.

Pharisee-like behavior is rampant these days! And, even among Christians, it is often not in service of the faith, but of secular values. People are focused on issues that are being force fed them, and then zeroing in on the minutia of those issues, and completely neglecting love of God and neighbor. It is ruining us. We need to back away from the daily controversies that the media and our politicians serve up to us (turn off all social and legacy media, if necessary! - "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off"), and look at the people actually around us, at our neighbors. Are we treating them with love, acceptance, and forgiveness? Are we putting God first and loving our neighbor as ourselves?

It is easy so easy to get caught up in the latest controversy or panic - and we are being fed a diet of outrage for votes, clicks, and views - but it is meaningless! We are all children of God, we are each cherished infinitely, do we doubt his love? We need to realize this for ourselves and for the others around us. Then the Pharisee-like behavior - the judgment, the nitpicking about every little thing (masks, vaccines, flags, hats, dog-whistles, it's endless!) will stop.

We are being taught to act as secular Pharisees to our neighbors. We must conform, and cause others to conform, to the cultural vision of righteousness or be punished, and often what is deemed culturally righteous is antithetical to our faith!  It is all contrived to pit us against each other (and I am quite certain it is the devil at work). It has to stop!

Love is the answer (not to be confused with sex (again, #sorrynotsorry pride month)) but love, agape, willing the good of the other as other. If we truly love the other, our neighbor, we will not engage in this behavior, and the world will quickly become a better place.