If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

While one might apply this truth to any number of bad ideas, and to those who pursue them (filling the internet with videos capturing their fascinating lack of sight), Jesus referred to an older group of influencers.

These blind advisors were religious leaders—Pharisees—who lived piously, specifically following the straight and narrow as it appeared to them.

Somewhere, however, their path angled downhill toward legalities and the thin-slicing of truth, leaving behind the uphill issues of compassion and concern for others.

As a religious leader myself, I pause and wonder—where might I be unseeing as I try to influence those around me?

The issue Jesus referenced involved caring for parents, which some Pharisees avoided using a bit of religious chicanery. Jesus saw through their clever arguments and into their hearts, curled black on the edges.

One lesson jumps from the page—my internal attitudes count more than my outward piety. But it’s so much easier to look like a good person than to allow a good heart to grow.

I relate to those Pharisees. Just give me a few rules to follow, and I shine. Ask me to develop into a person who considers others before myself, and well, I need Jesus.

Matthew 15 in week thirty-one of reading the Bible cover to cover

Photo by Ashley Jurius