What drives millions of people to follow with fidelity and constancy that sad carousel of low humanity that is the “Big Brother Vip” on Canale 5? Why was the Netflix docu-series about the scams and cheating of Wanna Marchi and daughter Stefania Nobile so successful? Where does this morbid interest in some heinous crimes come from? Rivers of ink have been spilled from Cogne to Avetrana and countless television broadcasts have been dedicated!
Trash always arouses great attention and satisfaction from the public! This is why many TV programs invite picturesque characters on the verge of decency or easily irascible who turn into caciara discussions that could, instead, lead to serious and constructive reflections! As soon as the quarrel breaks out – one of the tastiest is that of a few weeks ago between Sgarbi and Mughini at the Maurizio Costanza Show – the audience share rises and the views on youtube grow dramatically!
The phenomenon is easily explained by the fact that we all constantly go in search of who is worse than us. It is the easiest way to reassure ourselves and pamper ourselves in our respectability, to convince us that, after all, we are not so bad and therefore it is not necessary that we commit ourselves to change something in our way of thinking, in our behavior, in our interpersonal relationships. ! There is, in fact, always someone more evil, more arrogant, more cynical, more ignorant than us so it is useless to take it too hard: it is good and right to accept to remain in that “average” humanity where there are no smudges or worse … but not for the better, though!
In the time of the people of Israel there was the “scapegoat” – on the day of atonement (kippur), the high priest loaded all the sins of the people onto a goat and then sent it into the wilderness – today there are public figures or made public thanks to particular situations that are condemned on social networks, with an impressive brutality and aggression, by an army of improvised as well as relentless judges! It is a way to feel better, to convince yourself that you are on the right side!
It is the same attitude of the Pharisee protagonist of the parable of this penultimate Sunday in October: he is not like all the others and above all like that tax collector who, at the bottom of the temple, does not even dare to raise his eyes so much his sin crushes and humiliates him. . The latter is doubly sinful: he collaborates with the Romans who have conquered the land that God had assigned to Israel and collects taxes for them and, moreover, steals from fellow villagers by making a crest on the amounts due to pagan conquerors. Debt collector and torturer!
The Pharisee, on the other hand, is all “house and temple”! He observes all God’s commandments diligently and scrupulously: sin does not lodge at the door of his heart! Yet all this perfection hides the greatest sin a man can commit: pride! He, upright and haughty, goes to the temple not to thank God for having saved him from evil and helped him to walk the way of the Torah, but to show off all his merits, his “spiritual achievements”, his crystalline morality. In reality he is seeking the praise and thanksgiving of the Lord: he is waiting for the Almighty to note the gold medal of the perfect believer on his chest. His prayer is not, as the answer to a call should, but a monologue. He is as if he had climbed on a pedestal and from there he claims gratitude and glory. God, who should “disturb” man by pushing him to love more and more and better, is relegated to the role of “certifier” of skill! In the end, the Pharisee transformed God into a reassuring good-natured, into an idol who, instead, by spurring him to live more and more with charity and mercy, smoothes his hair.
This spiritual attitude, in addition to undermining a healthy and fruitful relationship with Heaven, pollutes the relationship with the brothers. From the height of his column, in fact, the Pharisee, drunk with so much immaculateness and perfection, does nothing but judge those around him and in particular the tax collector who, objectively, has so many sins to be forgiven! Unfortunately, this dangerous religiosity leads the Pharisee to isolation, while a true relationship with God should always lead to “compassion”: that is, to sharing the wounds of the body and soul of one’s brother. In fact, compatibility literally means “suffering with”, that is, accepting to take on a part of the sufferings of one’s neighbor so that he can feel lighter in his journey of healing and growth!
The Pharisee is unable to sympathize because his perfection makes him cold and insensitive: he does not know or does not want to know what it means to be overwhelmed by one’s sin; wanting to love as God teaches, but not having the energy to do so; be governed by insane passions and unspeakable vices and not have the strength to rebel. He doesn’t know what it means to fight against yourself!
The publican’s inner wounds, his human and spiritual frailties, his intimate fight against evil led him to be “humble”, that is, open, without prejudice or ambitions, to the action of God. He is certain that only mercy divine will be able to save him and give him that happiness that he so longs for. He is aware that he does not have the strength to do it alone, so he abandons himself to God!
Such a person, who knows his own meanness and wickedness well, is certainly inclined to compassion, tolerance, mercy.
This is why Jesus chose as his privileged witnesses, simple, fragile, sinful people: like Levi who was a tax collector or Peter who turned out to be a coward and traitor or Paul who lived part of his youth to persecute the Church. Men marked and wounded by infidelity and perfidy and precisely for this reason available to open themselves to God and to his action and capable of understanding that people “hungry and tired” who seek only understanding and mercy. Men ready to beat their chests and never point fingers!