The Drunk Leading the Drunk

Pro tip: when you go out drinking, make sure you have somebody sober with you. Even if you don't need a designated driver, you will need someone capable of rational thought to help you get on the bus or train, tell you which apartment is yours, and remind you where you are going when you get distracted by a Taco Bell sign. If a drunk person takes the lead of your group, you're likely to at least miss the bus, if not end up sleeping in the Dunkin' Donuts dumpster because "trust me guys, donuts are, like, really soft, right?"

A daring leader

Jesus gives similar advice in the gospel. A bunch of Pharisees are giving him a hard time about how his disciples don't ceremonially wash their hands before eating, as tradition requires. Jesus has a quick comeback, criticizing the Pharisees for telling people to ignore their parents and give their money to God. The Pharisees prefer their tradition over God's commandment, which means they are doing it wrong.

This pisses the Pharisees off, but Jesus tells his disciples to forget the Pharisees because "they are blind guides. If a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a pit." If Jesus were a bartender, he would have said "don't listen to your friend over there, he's drunk."

 

Indeed, the Pharisees were acting a lot like drunk people: stubborn, oblivious, and WAY too confident in their own abilities. They thought that they could lead people to righteousness by insisting that their petty traditions were really important. It didn't work. They were the types of guys who insist that they can get you home from the bars by following the north star, which they can totally find and everything. You WILL get lost.

Being lost stinks...

When incapable people, hypocritical people, or just plain drunk people lead others, nobody gets anywhere. That is why the Bible is full of warnings against false, prideful teachers who think that they have all of the answers for everybody. Don't listen to those people. Listen to sincere and sober people. Jesus says of the Pharisees that they honor God with their mouths, but not with their hearts. In their hearts, they are attached to their own ideas about what is good and they are not responsive to God's will concerning what is good.

I have found this to be true of drunk folks too. Bless their hearts, but they lose sight of reality and become hyper-focused on themselves. How many drunk people have you listened to as they drone on about insignificant details of their lives? Imagine being a bartender. Plus, drunk people usually have very narrowly defined agendas, for example: go to Denny's, drink more, or pee, and they let these priorities determine everything that they do. This is the seed of a public urination charge. In the same way, Jesus accused the Pharisees of "teaching human precepts as doctrine." The Pharisees confused their own drunken cravings for cheese fries with the will of God and thus made very bad decisions that led people astray.

 

Don't be a Pharisee.