THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT/RIGHTEOUS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

   Every time I stand up in the pulpit or before a class or deliver a talk, whenever I am in a position of teaching, I always want to think I am right in what I am about to say. I believe right is on my side. Sometimes, I suspect, I come across as being rather self-righteous, especially to those who may disagree with me. Of course, when the shoe is on the other foot, I think those whose thoughts and opinions differ from mine and who are trying to inflict those ideas onto me are themselves very self-righteous.

   Who is to know for certain? Are there times when I am trying to assert that my will is also God’s will even when I am not certain I am right? Are there times when I have not delved deeply enough into the rightness of my thoughts and words, but simply accept them at face value because they seem so right? Are there times when I simply accept as right, as correct theology, for instance, what has been handed down to me without ever challenging that theology?

   The answer to all three questions, I am reluctant to admit, is yes. Just because I think I am right or just because my ideas seem so right or just because my society or my culture or my tradition says something is so – none of that makes anything in and of itself right. All assertions based on such assumptions may simply be self-righteous rather than right. I may be dead wrong and so may be everyone else. Maybe we have wallowed in our self-righteousness, thinking we were right because we were too lazy or too proud or too afraid to challenge our beliefs and assumptions.

   So how do we know for sure? Can we know for sure? Once again I am indebted to my cyber friend, Molly Wolf, for her keen insight. She observes: “In trying to decide whether something is truly righteous or just self-righteous, the question to ask is: who is going to do the suffering? If it is truly God’s will, it is going to cost me in this world’s terms, and it may cost me plenty. I may have to sacrifice my hopes for Hope. I may have to set aside all that I thought I had a right to expect and wait humbly for whatever is that God’s going to give to me, and what God gives me may not look in the least like what I wanted. That’s a major Gospel message. We are asked to make choices between this world’s ways and the Kingdom’s ways….We’re asked to make those choices for ourselves. Not for others.”

   This is true for those on each side of any issue. Do we ever know for sure? Can we ever say that this is God’s will, that we are right and everyone who disagrees with us is wrong, that we are being righteous and not self-righteous? Only if we are Jesus, I think. Yes, personal suffering, as Molly suggests, may give us a clue. But on almost every, if not every, issue that comes up for debate these days in the church, the ones on the wrong end will suffer – and it does not matter who is making the “right” argument.

   Perhaps we need to be less self-righteous and more open to hearing what the other has to say. Perhaps we have to hear about his pain and suffering if what we say is right. Perhaps she has to hear how much pain we will be in if she is right and we are wrong. There is enough pain and suffering going on in this world and in our own lives. We do not need to add to it by being self-righteous, especially since we truly do not know if we are right.                                          WJP