Self-righteous

This past weekend in the homily I focused on the father's unconditional acceptance of the prodigal son as a parable of God's unconditional, unearned love for all of us.  After Mass I was saying goodby to people outside church.  A young man rushing past me, said something like, "You mean I could live a wild life for 40 years and then ask God to forgive me and He would?"  It wasn't clear whether he was annoyed at me or the parable.  He didn't stop for a discussion.  As he hurried away from me, I said "That's what Jesus says."
I wondered if he realized how much he sounded like the self-righteous older brother in Jesus' story.  Then I started to wonder how many of us are like the self-righteous brother without realizing it.  Self-righteousness is a hard fault to be even aware of in ourselves.  It's easier to see in others.
In next Sunday's Gospel (John 8:1-11) Jesus finds a way to help the scribes and Pharisees become aware of their self-righteousness.  It's not surprising that it is they to whom Jesus addresses the parable of the prodigal son.  In John's passage they bring a woman caught in adultery.  They tell Jesus the Law says she is to be stoned to death and ask him what he thinks.  He says to them and to us, "Let whoever is without sin throw the first stone."
Self-righteous means thinking we make ourselves righteous.  The scribes and Pharisees thought that by obeying the Law, they made themselves good.  They failed to see that any goodness in us is due to God's work not our efforts.  Jesus makes them and us stop and think whether we are so good that we have a right to condemn the adulteress and the prodigal son.  Then, as we slink away aware of our self-righteousness,  Jesus shows the woman the same unearned forgiveness that the father showed his son.