The Danger of Self-Righteousness

I'm a big fan of the daily Bible discussion Discover the Word.

For the last several weeks, Haddon and Alice and Mart have been discussing the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

One thing that they observed is that Christians love the first part of the story, where the younger son returns to the love of the father.

But many people, particularly the devout, have a hard time reflecting upon the older son's sins.

This contemporary discomfort with Jesus' story is closely related to His strong condemnation of self-righteous religious leaders of the day.