Today’s gospel suggests we need to confront any tendency to judge others, take hurt and offence from them, reject them, and make them scapegoats of our own unrecognised aversions and resentments. We need to become more aware of how we spread negativity at home, among our friends at work—or wherever—lest we become like Pharisees or Herodians, or those of Jesus’ own people who so readily rejected him. We need to realise how easy it is to confuse reality with our own ingrained prejudices and preferred viewpoints. We need to see that every story has another side, every person has his or her own reasons for what they do.