The Pharisees and Sadducees took too much pride in their heritage, in their education and status. It’s what blinded them to Christ.

“We have Abraham as our father,” they said. It’s why John the Baptist called them out, called them “vipers” (Mtt 3:7-9). Because in their cultural and historical arrogance they were fools, blind to what God was doing.

Now the warning for us is frighteningly simple. If arrogance blinds us, then where are we arrogant? “We have Abraham as our father,” they said. “I went to Catholic school,” we say. Is that a fair parallel to make? Of course, it’s good have Abraham as our father, and it’s good to have gone to Catholic school. But isn’t it true that sometimes we say these things in an arrogant, spiritually blinding way? If, for example, you’re quick to tell people about your Catholic upbringing, but you can’t tell them anything about the faith and morals of Church or about what Christ means to you personally, don’t you think you might have a spiritual problem, or may be spiritually a little blind? Spiritual blindness happens to each of us, and it’s usually tied to earthly comforts, to status and power. And so, we each should examine it in ourselves, ask ourselves where we’re blind. That is, if we want to see things spiritually, Christ and the grace he offers. Because sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we prefer blindness.

And so, lesson two for Advent: let us examine ourselves, looking for those things of status and cultural pride which, although they may not be bad things in themselves, still sometimes blind us. If you take pride in these things—for example, saying, “I went to Catholic school”—but don’t know Jesus or don’t follow his teachings, then you have a problem. Hence the significance of this passage from Matthew, the invitation it gives us—to think of these things, to repent, and to see finally clearly the coming of Jesus.