Hypocrisy or Love
Live audio File
10th Sun. of Luke Nov. 26, 2023; Luke:13: 10-17; Eph 2:4-10
“There are six days on which men ought to work: Therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” Quite the statement! It bends one’s mind just hearing it out loud doesn’t it? Even Christ seems a little stunned, “Hypocrite” is His immediate reply.
In Matthew 23 we again hear this strong condemnation “Hypocrites.” Christ is giving His last talk to the crowds before His crucifixion, calling the leaders – the scribes and the Pharisees – “Hypocrites.” They (Matt. 23:4) “bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Christ tells us not to call those who make a disgrace of the title, “teachers” or “fathers,” for (Matt. 23: 12) “whoever exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew Chapter 23 then reports Christ describing all manner of unloving evil actions done by the leaders. Seven times in this one chapter He repeats, (Matt. 23: 13,14,15,23,25,27,29) “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.” Then just for good measure he calls them “blind guides and/or fools” another 6 times (Matt. 23:16,17,19,24,26.) Christ finally concludes His Chapter 23 description of these false teachers and fathers, (Matt.23:33) “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” But then He ends with pouring out His ever-available offer of love and protection (Matt.23:37) “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Perhaps the future apostle Paul was in this crowd? We find him a little later encouraging the stoning to death of St. Stephen, furiously fulfilling Christ’s (Matt.23:34) prophecy “I send you wise men and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.” Yet St. Paul ends up as one of the chief apostles! There are no hopeless cases. It is never too late to change while we are still alive We have the most famous Pharisee of all time as our proof of this.
Matthew 23 is quite famous amongst our dear Protestant Evangelical brothers and sisters. However, the main lesson they understand from this chapter is to “call no man Father.” I have no desire to be addressed as “Fr. Andrew” by anyone who struggles with this, but I must confess that whenever I run into their careful obedience to this one isolated verse in the middle of chapter 23, applied completely out of context to the passage, I always hear in the back of my mind, Fr. Thomas Hopko of blessed memory saying, “read the whole chapter – it really helps to read the entire chapter.” Verses out of context have been used to justify all manner of bad theology and undergird every cult. When we want to understand what a verse or chapter in the scriptures is saying, we should determine what the Church has taught consistently through the centuries. St. Paul flat out told the Corinthians he was their father. The rich man looking for a drop of water from Lazarus called on Fr. Abraham. If our understanding doesn’t square with what the Church teaches, then we need to let the Church judge us rather than pridefully allowing ourselves to judge the Church. We need to take the time to discover what the Church has always taught.
Once Martin Luther came up with the novel test of “Sola Scriptura,” – the bible and the bible alone – individual interpretation of the bible became the standard. Instead of the problem of one Pope who assumed too much authority, we now have every man an equal pope with chaos ensuing in the Western church. Multitudes of charismatic reformers – bible “experts” – came up with additional and often conflicting interpretations of bible verses based on their own personal opinions. Various Churches were formed and continue to be formed at an amazing rate. Disagree with the leader? Just start your own church. All of the major “Mainline Protestant” denominations have now split into many different factions and new novel Christian Churches and teachings are formed daily. A quick internet inquiry of how many different churches there are now will give a number between 30,000 and 50,000 and there will have been a bunch more started this week. These branched off of the Roman Catholic Church after 1500 when you trace the origins back. Check back far enough in any Protestant group and you will find a human “father” who fought with someone and split to found their new church.
There has never been an Orthodox “reformation.” So when I say to check out what you think the bible is telling you, I don’t mean to google it to see what fits best with what tickles your own “god” inspired understanding. Check out what the Church Fathers have said “everywhere, always, and to everyone” as St. Vincent of Lerins put it in the 5th century. Through much toil and blood and working out the truth at the ecumenical councils, the united Church established much that the Protestant world is still fighting about. It is such a relief to be able to just rest in what has been delivered by Christ and the apostles and faithfully established by the Church.
Hypocrisy is a false reality, a delusion built upon lies and fueled by pride. It comes from the father of lies, and has no part in God, who is the Way the Truth and the Life. A spirit of hypocritical religiosity develops in us when we think we know the rules and are doing a pretty good job of keeping them. At least certainly better than many around us. When we think we are special and gifted and favoured by God and have a hot line to God, we are suffering from a dangerous type of super-pride known as Prelest. We take great satisfaction that we are “not like them,” and in the process isolate ourselves from suffering humanity and also therefore from Christ. The stiff-necked Pharisee’s would interpret verses and mosaic laws to prove they were “right,” and twist them into weapons to use in beating others under their authority into submission. Fr. Thomas Hopko often used the term “Patristic Fundamentalism” to describe a modern version of this self-righteous unloving behaviour. He felt it to be the biggest threat to the Orthodox Church in our time. Being “right” without being “loving,” is a sure formula to develop a hard heart. (Psalm 50) “Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me. A broken and humble heart O Lord You will not despise.” Any lie or delusion we adopt pleases the evil one, but all the better if we ferociously defend it and develop a hard heart towards those who differ. Even the truth without being infused with love can do much damage to ourselves and those we relate (or rather don’t relate) with.
Like today’s religious ruler, we can think we have it all figured out. If someone doesn’t agree with us they are dismissed as being (take your pick) deluded/stupid/ ignorant/ heartless/ uneducated/ and just plain wrong! As our society becomes increasingly polarized, we are in great danger of seeing others, who don’t see things as we do, as our enemies, rather than as struggling fellow humans. Agreeing to disagree on political and social issues, while valuing the otherness and humanity of those we don’t agree with is becoming increasingly rare.
Throughout the scriptures we are given the antidote for the sin of hypocrisy. St. Paul tells us, (Phil,4:8) “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy – meditate on these things.” And (Rom.16) “Do not set your mind on high things but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.”
But of course, we are sinners, and we blow it. The problem isn’t just that we are sinners; we have the entire human race for company in this, the problem is primarily that we don’t recognize our condition, and therefore we don’t flee to Christ for forgiveness and healing. The Christian journey is a life of repentance. May our own hypocrisy be burned in the fire of God’s love. Glory to Jesus Christ!