Hypocrisy, Brainy Quote.

[Jesus said] “You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”    Luke 6:42.

Click here to read today’s Sunday Mass Readings.

Click on words highlighted in red for further information.

There is a character in Dickens’ novel David Copperfield named Uriah Heep. He has to be one of Dickens’ most horrible creations. He almost never says anything which could reflect badly on himself, as he was “too ‘umble”. Working in a law firm, especially in the 19th century, would suggest you should have a decent command of Latin. The hero of the piece, David, offers to help him learn it, but no, he was “too ‘umble”. However, he wasn’t too ‘umble to cheat and lie his way to the top of the firm, becoming the main antagonist in the story, ultimately ending up in jail for fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. Here he sanctimoniously “forgives” David for being “violent” to him and warns him to mend his ways, none of which is true. Hypocrisy might well be one of the most angry-making character flaws in someone. You might never be able to understand or accept such a one after you have found out the truth. And Jesus’ tone in today’s gospel is clearly one of anger and frustration in dealing with that terrible flaw. But remember that a hypocrite is out for him or herself only and always; that is the true motivation. Selfishness, the sin of the devil.

Jesus seems to be particularly strong in his condemnation of hypocrisy: “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles”. Yet it must be very hard for a hypocrite to realize anything bad is his fault because, almost by definition, it isn’t, and nor can it ever be! Consider the examples of several religious preachers who have been revealed to be adulterers or worse. They have stood up in front of thousands of people and condemned all sorts of behavior which, in their estimation, was evil, only to have been revealed as guilty of the same. There is a sense of betrayal there. People who believed every word they said must now confront themselves with the truth that it was a pack of lies. It shakes one’s whole belief in humanity! Perhaps that is why the Lord was so very angry at such behavior. If you cannot believe what a supposedly holy man said about evil lifestyle only to be revealed as guilty of that sin, who can you believe? I think we want to believe in certain people in whom we place our trust, but if we have made a horrible mistake there, our very confidence in people must be shaken.

So we run to our Savior, this time knowing that our trust will not be misplaced. We can trust in the Lord. His word is true, unshakeable and eternal. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” he said (John 14:6), the mirror opposite of hypocrisy. And after 2000 years of people trusting and believing in that, we can be pretty sure it is true! Here is someone who will stand by us through thick and thin, good times and bad. Here is someone who will quietly and surely lead us back to the ability to trust once more, one who was fearless in condemning those guilty of this horrible fault. We can trust him because this was one of his characteristics which brought him to the cross. And if we are victim to hypocrisy, today’s readings might give us a little consolation. Ultimately it is God who can see behind the Wizard of Oz-type falsehood of the hypocrite, “when a sieve is shaken, the husks appear” as Sirach says in the first reading, which can only be burned in the fire, the moment of truth when called from this life. And that is the point of today’s second reading. Ultimately all will be revealed when we are judged by the Lord of All. If we have no deadly faults, then, as Paul says, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?, quoting Hosea 13:14. But where will the hypocrite hide, revealed at last, at such a time? They will be presented with the clear evidence of their deadly fault, and this time there will be no way of hiding it or even explaining it away. 

The fact that Jesus saw fit to attack this fault meant that his conscience must have been clear. He knew there was no evidence in his life which could support hypocrisy. He was completely innocent of such a fault. He told it as it was, whatever the situation. Such truth, supported by evidence, is dangerous. Indeed, it could easily be said that he made very powerful enemies who were ultimately responsible for his death. That was how serious the accusation was, especially so if those guilty knew he was right. And so we are each called to look for any evidence of hypocrisy in our own lives. It calls for brutal strength, clear vision and a dedication to the truth. And we might well be advised to ask the Lord to help us in that. Have I said anything at any time which suggested a hypocritical streak? Have I ever condemned someone for a fault of which I myself was guilty? It really does sound like a Lenten exercise. Well, we are now very close to Lent. What a challenging goal to set for ourselves. And, of course, we should never say “Yes, that’s what I’ll do for Lent” and then not do it. Because we would be guilty of…….

Life Advancer, “Signs You Are Dealing With a Hypocrite” 2017.

IF YOU LIKED THIS, PLEASE SHARE IT WITH ANOTHER. THANK YOU. 

Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

Please send your reactions to: RogerJohn@aol.com 

© SundayMassReadings.com