There is a story told of a priest who was called out to the hospital located in a not-so-great part of town in the early morning hours to anoint someone. After performing his priestly duties, he was walking back to his car when he was confronted by a mugger who exclaimed, “give me your money or I’ll shoot!" As the priest fumbled with his wallet, the thief saw the collar, and changed his mind. The relieved priest lit a cigarette and offered one to his would-be robber. The latter proudly said, "No thanks, Father. I've given up smoking for Lent." Like the would-be thief, many of us Christians can lose sight of the forest because of the trees. The danger of sin is that it opens up a disconnect between what we believe and how we actually behave in everyday situations. We can end up being very observant of certain traditions while blindly missing the essentials of what it means to follow Jesus. There is a danger, St. John Newman warned, of thinking God takes our sins lightly because we take them lightly.
One of the warnings running throughout the readings this week at daily Mass and today for the 22nd week in ordinary time is this: Don’t be a hypocrite! In other words, make sure what you believe and how you act line up. Don’t say one thing and do another. There is something universally reviling about hypocrites. We can't stand it when we learn that models of morality have been leading secret, immoral lives. We are upset when those whom we respect are revealed to be indecent frauds. Sadly we have seen this principle in action with the clergy scandals that have afflicted the Church in recent times.
We agree with the Lord in his attack on the hypocrites. But then Jesus turns the focus of his teaching towards us. He says the things that are evil are what comes out of us. He doesn’t just lead us in a round of mob justice to condemn all those bad people in the world; rather Jesus forces each of us to ask, "Am I a hypocrite? What thoughts, words, and actions are coming out of me? What is my heart producing?" We need to be concerned with fighting against any evil that might be lurking inside us. We can easily see the wrong in others, but if we are to avoid being hypocrites ourselves, we need to control our thoughts. We need to protect ourselves against those things which will turn black and white into gray. We need to be wholesome. We need to be pure of heart. We need to be gentle, strong, and merciful.
Because the human reaction to hypocrisy is so visceral, there is a danger that when we see it in ourselves, when we are the hypocrites, we give in to self-hatred. But God doesn’t want us hating ourselves. We must replace self-hatred with love, His Divine Love. We belong to God. He is among us and, through the grace of our baptism, He is within us. His gift of grace will help us win the battle for our souls. And this is the great irony: the thing God can’t stand the most (hypocrisy) seems at first glance, very similar to the thing He loves above all else! God loves sinners so much he didn’t even spare His Son to save them. So what is the difference between a hypocrite and a sinner? One key thing. The sinner avoids becoming a hypocrite by honest reflection on his or her life. The difference is that the sinner says, “God, I am sorry. I have done wrong. I need your help. I don’t want to hurt you or anyone else anymore. I want to do good things but I am weak. I understand the sins of others because I have my own weaknesses and failures.”
One last observation. Just because the hypocritical Pharisees misused the commandments to harden their hearts doesn’t mean God decided to throw away the Law! Jesus does not dismiss the commandments or the notion of sin but he condemns using it to afflict, judge, or hurt others. Jesus exposes the Pharisees for honoring God with lip-service while their hearts are far from him. But the problem is with them, not the moral code. The commandments and teachings of right and wrong come from God and cannot change or be dismissed even when its teachers lead horrible lives. Perhaps the saddest result of hypocrisy in some of our moral leaders today is that it makes it easier for us to dismiss the saving truths they were supposed to be representing. That is the ultimate scandal of hypocrisy: the splendor of Divine truth, found in God’s laws and commandments is obscured by human pride and weakness.
Today it would be a good idea for each of us to pray for the grace to be able to humbly and honestly reflect on our own life and actions. How do they or don’t they line up with the teachings we have received from Christ through Scripture and Tradition? Is what comes out of us in the form of thoughts, words, and actions consistent with what we profess and believe as followers of Christ? Is there anything we are doing or not doing that could lead someone to doubt the truth of who we represent, namely Jesus Christ? Are we willing to look first at our own sins and weaknesses rather than brushing over them to point out the faults of others? Do we think, consciously or not, that we are better than others, which is a sure sign we need God’s help to root out hypocrisy in ourselves.
The Good News is that God’s love is steadfast! He will never stop loving sinners who confess their need for Him! So let’s be set free from any pride or self-righteousness that might afflict us. Let’s openly admit to God that we are weak and sinful and in need of His care. Make use of the sacrament of confession which he gave us as a way of returning to him and receiving his gifts of healing and strength. Pray not only for yourself, but for all who wander in darkness and for anyone who may have been hurt by our sins and hypocrisy. In time, with God’s grace, we can become the person described by the psalmist, ‘who does justice and who will live in the presence of the Lord’!
