I'm striving to be a "good person"

 

We hear a lot today about “profiling”—ethnic, criminal, athletic and so on.  In reading some of the Book of Wisdom today [Wisdom 2:1, 12-22], there was a “profiling” of sorts of the “just one” (“good people”)—as opposed to those who are wicked.

Just about every day as I read the newspaper, I spend a little time looking at the obituaries and eulogies of the recently deceased.  Some of them characterize the deceased as a “good person.”  The resume of the person’s life will then mention such accomplishments as: the CEO of some company, a Board member of the University, a member of the City Council, always the life of the party, and facts of that nature.  These characteristics might be laudable, but do they make the deceased a “good person?”

I think it’s a far cry from the individual the Book of Wisdom considers to be a “good person.”  In Scripture the “good person” is described as the one who fights against evil, reproaches lawlessness, advocates justice, condemns hypocrisy, avoids impurity, exposes false reasoning and champions the truth.

Wisdom also predicts that the “good person” will be rejected.  He’s a reproach to the wicked.  He puts them to shame.  So they’ll test him with suffering and torture to see how good he really is.  Isn’t that exactly the way they tested Christ?

In John’s Gospel, the people profile Christ and find He lacks the credentials to be the Messiah.  They knew His origins.  But the Scriptures state that no one knows from where the Messiah comes [John 7:1-30].  Of course, the people are judging on physical evidence and even that’s faulty.  He’s definitely the son of Mary.  They’re unwittingly wrong when they think He’s the son of Joseph.  Jesus sets them straight by letting them know that He is from God who is His Father.

This presents a great lesson for us.  It’s the lesson of being judgmental and overly critical of others we know well.  The more we know about someone the more we’ll be aware of their faults and weaknesses.  And if we’re not careful, we’ll focus in on those qualities rather than on the good qualities God wants us to see.

This is what happened with Jesus.  He didn’t have any actual bad qualities.  He was perfect.  But there were most likely many parts of His life that invited the false judgment and criticism of others.  His self-confidence, the authority He manifested in His teaching, the extraordinary compassion He had toward sinners, etc., were all exceptional qualities that some couldn’t (or wouldn’t) understand.  And, as a result, they chose to be critical.  “We know where He is from,” they said.  In other words, they didn’t think that someone they knew could be filled with greatness.

What about those around us?  What do we think about those closest to us?  Are we able to see beyond any apparent weakness they have and see the hand of God at work?  Are we able to see beyond the surface and see the value and dignity of their lives?  When we can see the goodness of others, we must point it out, and be grateful for it; we’ll actually be seeing and loving the manifest goodness of God.  God is alive and active in every soul around us.  It’s our responsibility to see that goodness and love it.  This takes true humility on our part but, in the end, it’s a way of loving God in our midst.