It is both tragic and comic when it happens. I fear we miss the tragedy in the comedy. Person A makes an observation that Person B has done something wrong. Lied, or cheated, or some such. Person B offers as his defense something along these lines toward Person A, “How dare you judge people? You are the absolute worst, because you judge, judge, judge. What the world needs is fewer judgers like you.”
The comedy should be pretty obvious, as Person B flails his arms and legs, hoisted on his own petard. He, of course, is clearly, immediately and comically exposed as one who judges people. Person A simply said, “You did wrong” while Person B said, “You are the absolute worst.” Comic lack of self-awareness.
Where then is the tragedy? Person A, of course, can point out the contradiction. Hopefully, Person B will blush and see what he’s done. He will, however, go right back to his starting premise, that judgers, other than him, should be judged. The tragedy is that this account doesn’t merely reveal flawed reasoning. It reveals a dark, foolish and prideful heart.
The problem is less that the laws of logic have been shamefully violated. The problem more is that Person B is not just guilty of whatever Person A may have noticed but is guilty of the primordial sin, pride. While Person B is busy accusing Person A of being Pharisaical, Person B is proudly announcing, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men. I don’t judge people, like this Judger over here. I overlook all the politically correct sins, and valiantly seek to destroy evil men like Person A.”
To put it more succinctly, the problem is less that he falsely accused Person A of sinning in pointing out his sin, more that he falsely denies that he himself is a sinner. This, however, is precisely the kind of sinners we all are. While it’s true that not all sins are equal, contra commonly accepted “wisdom,” it is also true that all sinners are sinners. All bad enough sinners that we constantly want to prove we’re not as sinful as the other guy.
We may not be. Or we may be. But it doesn’t matter. Our sinfulness is horrific enough. Hitler and Stalin may well be arguing in hell right now which one was better. We, who are headed to heaven by His grace, foolishly do the same on earth. In our pride we humbly confess that we are sinners, then reveal our pride by announcing “but we’re not THAT kind of sinner.”
We do not acknowledge the universality of sin in order to make it disappear. As if “Everyone’s a sinner” is somehow good news, a comfort. No, we acknowledge the universality of sin as horrific news, a terror. No sin has ever or will ever be overlooked. Every sin, however small, is committed against an infinitely big God. And every sin either has been or will be fully punished.
God’s grace doesn’t make those sins nothing. It makes our sins those that have already been punished. Our message to the world isn’t, “You can be good like me” but rather, “You are bad, like me. Let me tell you about the one good Man, and what He did for His own.”