Some have said that the Scriptures, especially the Gospels in which Jesus Himself speaks, are God’s “love letter” to us, and we should read them as if He is speaking directly to us. I opened chapter six of the Gospel of Luke the other day and received this loving sentiment: “You hypocrite!” Uh, thank You, Lord, but… Actually, there was more to it, though the more didn’t really soften the blow. The love letter went like this: “To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also… do good, expecting nothing in return… you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye… Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” So, that was my “mail” from on high for that day.
I didn’t really object to it, since I know I am a hypocrite and don’t do what the Lord tells me. But it does feel like something of a slap in the face coming from Another (I guess I should have just turned the other cheek!). If I do something stupid and then say to myself, “you idiot!” it just seems perfectly natural. But if someone else said the same thing to me, I probably would take it harder. See, even here I’m a hypocrite! If the thing is true, it shouldn’t matter who says it to me, and I shouldn’t react differently.
But enough about my hypocrisy; let’s talk about yours! Just kidding; you’re not a hypocrite—are you? Well, maybe you know someone who is, so let’s look at the issue, because it is evidently quite an important one to the Lord. It seems that Jesus directed only compassion toward prostitutes and other sinners—still calling them to repentance, of course—but his wrath was reserved for hypocrites, who in most cases are identified with the Pharisees or other
religious authorities. His most scathing denunciation of them occurs in Matthew 23 (and the parallel at the end of Luke 11), but there are quite a few places in which He lets loose on them. What can we make of this?
It seems to me that there are several reasons why Jesus found hypocrites so odious. Perhaps the main one has to do with scandal and the loss of souls that could result from their not being what they are supposed to be: “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in… you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Mt 23:13-15). The principle “to whom much is given, much is required” would apply here. They are expected to give both the good teaching and the good example which God requires of men in his service, but if they “preach, but do not practice” (v. 3), they come under condemnation.
As hypocrites, they also cheapen or even defile the holy things of God. For them to pride themselves in tithing herbs while neglecting “justice and mercy and faith” (v. 23) subjects their holy office to ridicule. Jesus sums up the whole issue by saying: “You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (vv.27-28). They are supposed to be the means by which God’s righteousness is made known, but if people are turned away from God by the example of such puffed-up phonies, the hypocrites will have a lot to answer for on Judgment Day.
Pride seems to be at the root of hypocrisy, for they cover their inner nothingness with ostentatious piety, calling attention to their high positions in public ways. Another summary statement: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled” (v. 12). What it seems to come down to is that instead of making it easy for people to come to God, they make it difficult; they are closed doors to God instead of open windows. The Lord cannot tolerate it when someone He has chosen to bring others to Him does just the opposite.
Evidently humble honesty and genuineness are more important to the Lord than religiosity, especially if that is only a veneer for hiding wickedness. The tax-collectors didn’t say, “We are pious.” And the hookers didn’t say, “We are chaste.” So Jesus could work with them. They still had to change their ways, but simply by honestly admitting what they were, they were way ahead of the hypocrites on the path to the Kingdom: “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into to Kingdom of God before you” (Mt. 21:31).
What about us? It’s easy to point the finger at other hypocrites because they’re easy to spot. One of the characteristics of hypocrisy is that it is to some extent self-blinding, so we don’t notice it as readily in ourselves. (Remember what you should say to someone who won’t enter the Church because it’s full of hypocrites: “There’s always room for one more!”) It’s actually kind of hard to avoid hypocrisy in any absolute sense. The standards set by the Gospel are high, and we fail to meet them, though we’d like to be manifestly faithful Christians. This is all the more difficult for someone like me, because I still have to preach the whole truth, and it stings if I know I’m not practicing quite what I preach. For all that, I can’t simply stop preaching, for I have a commission from God. I just have to hurry up and get my act together, quickly closing the gap between my words and my actions. But it is an ongoing work, and the results vary, yet the effort can never be relaxed, and I have to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, being ready to do whatever He tells me.
I suppose Jesus would have had mercy even on the hypocrites if they would just say: “I know I am a hypocrite. Please help me.” It’s the arrogant posturing that the Lord cannot tolerate. It’s saying we are something that we are not, or saying we are not something that we are—this is what hinders the work of grace in us.
So maybe it really is a love letter if Jesus sometimes calls us hypocrites. It’s at least a “truth letter,” and the Lord only speaks the truth in love. He wants to work with us, to show us how to realize more and more the ideals of a holy life, while honestly humbling ourselves—instead of arrogantly or self-righteously defending ourselves—when we fall short. Jesus said our righteousness has to exceed that of the hypocrites if we are to enter the Kingdom. But that doesn’t mean to be still more outwardly pious. He also said that all we have to do is humble ourselves, like a child. Children are generally not hypocrites: what you see is what you get, for better or worse. But at least it’s the truth.
Let’s begin with honesty, with transparency, with humility. It’s not our faults that will keep us out of the Kingdom so much as our refusal to acknowledge them—or our trying to make it appear to others that we don’t have them. Let’s not deserve to get a letter from Heaven addressed to “Whitewashed Tomb.”
