"I think I have a knack for seeing other people's faults." replies Lucy. "And what about your own faults?" he asks. To which Lucy says: "I have a knack for overlooking them."
The wisdom of the popular Peanuts comic strip.
I am thinking of the Pharisees of Jesus' time who always seemed anxious to criticize him, too often "overlooking their own faults." They seemed to wait on him to make a mistake and watched him closely when more than once, he broke the law on the Sabbath to heal someone in need. Jesus always looked beyond the letter of the law. He chose not to emphasize the externals and formalities that the Pharisees underlined. And so, he was a constant source of anxiety and fear to them. On one of these occasions, they noticed that his disciples ate without first following the ancient custom of scrupulously washing their hands.
For Jesus' perspective, dirt can always be washed off. But evil thoughts, as he pointed out to his detractors, come from within. He spoke about unchastity, theft, murder, envy which defile. I think sometimes we believe we keep our lives pure by cleaning up other people's lives. Of course, that never works and does not save anyone. The impact of Jesus still holds today: 'not dirty hands ... but cleanse what lies deep within us.'
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