Jesus is not using parables today; he is speaking to us plainly and directly: "Beware of the scribes."
No figure earned Christ's disdain more than the proud, self- seeking religious leaders (like these scribes), because no other figure so distorts people's idea of God, thereby driving people away from him. Christ's entire life, and especially his death, was the proclamation of a different type of leadership, one involving sincere, sacrificial service.
Jesus is other-centered; the scribes are self-centered. They were extremely religious people – they knew their faith, studied it, and followed all the rules. But they had become so focused on external performance that they had forgotten what was more important: a humble, thankful heart, like the poor widows.
Yet, this still doesn't explain why Jesus warns us to beware of them. In this Gospel passage, Jesus is speaking to his followers, many of whom will become religious leaders; he doesn't want them to follow the scribes' example.
But in a larger sense, every Christian, by virtue of baptism, is called to be a leader of others, an evangelizer, a prophet of the gospel to the world in word, deed, and example. And so, every single one of us is exposed to the same temptations that led the scribes into self-righteousness.
How easy it is to consider oneself superior to others for all the wrong reasons!
Because we are faithful to the true teaching of the Church; because we follow liturgical norms with perfection; because we don't wear immodest clothes; because we don't engage in this or that type of behavior; because we say our prayers and go to Mass; because we're not as morally corrupt as other people we know…
"Beware of the scribes," because it is so very easy to become self- indulgently and self-congratulatingly religious, and that's the first step to idolatry.
The Daily Examination of Conscience
It's clear why we should "beware of the scribes": if we become self-righteous, as they did, God's grace will have no room to redeem and transform our hearts and minds.
But it's not so clear how we can avoid this pitfall. The scribes were the smartest and most respected class of people in ancient Israel: how can we succeed where they failed?
One effective spiritual weapon that God has given us is a tested devotion that spiritual writers call the daily examination of conscience. It consists of five or ten minutes of prayerful reflection at the end of the day, in quiet and silence.
During this brief time of prayer, we look back at the day that is past, and speak to our Lord about how we lived it.
We can go through the commandments and see if we were faithful to them. Then we can examine your key relationships and responsibilities and see if you lived them with maturity and true Christian purpose, or if we were overly self-centered.
We can also simply replay the major activities of the day in our mind's eye and see if our friendship with Christ was alive or dead during those activities.
Whichever method we choose, the Holy Spirit will help guide our thoughts and give us insights.
At the end of the examination of conscience, we can thank God for the day's blessings, ask pardon for our sins and failings, and make a personal resolution to live more Christ-centered and less self- centered (preferably in some specific way) the next day.
This kind of daily attention to our spiritual progress is something we can do to avoid the pitfall of self-deception and self-righteousness. And if we make an effort to do our part, we can be assured that God will have more room to do his part.