A number of images or phrases that Jesus used have become part of ordinary English language use - like today's remark about the uselessness and danger of "the blind leading the blind". We recognize the wisdom of the saying. Perhaps we've even sometimes used it ourselves, commenting on or criticizing other people's behaviour. But how well do we heed His message?

Peace, justice and reconciliation are big themes in our public prayers of intercession for the church and the world. We see the faults and failures in our cities and the communities we live in. Perhaps also within our own families and in the circles of work and leisure we move in. We can be angry and critical, but often there seems little we can do about the situation.

Yet we have to live together. We are social beings, needing and depending in so many ways on each other. As we're imperfect human beings, those "other people" can be difficult to get along with, can irritate or annoy us because theyˇK(fill in for yourself the kind of things that make you criticize other people). It's not because they're necessarily bad or ill-willed or lacking in something. No; they're just like ourselves, and we all have our faults and provocative failings.

The roots of injustice, disagreements, fighting are in ourselves, in our thoughts and behaviour.