Those Hypocrites

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across 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. (Matthew 23:13-15 ESV).

An old proverb declares: “Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite.” Our reading today places Jesus squarely on the side of condemning hypocrisy, especially in the practice of our faith in religion. Yet the church seems to be more deeply entrenched in this destructive practice than ever before. Recently I read the results of a survey done by LifeWay Research. They polled 1402 un-churched adults (defined as people not going to church in the last six months) and found some interesting responses. Here is a summary of some of the responses:  71% think believing in Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s life.  72% believe that God actually exists.  72% say the church is full of hypocrites.  78% say, I would be willing to listen to somebody tell me about Christianity.  79% say Christianity today is more about organized religion than about loving people.  86% say I believe I can have a good relationship with God without belonging to a church. Arthur Farnsley, administrator of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion asks an interesting question: “Is there a workshop for churches in being less annoying, less hypocritical?” Perhaps we all would benefit from a large dose of reality to understand that there are no righteous individuals except by the declaration of Jesus. We are only “good” by virtue of his goodness being substituted for our bad. Our sin may not be the same as another, but it is still sin and we all have plenty to go around. Let me emphasize a very important truth today. Many people believe Jesus and the concept of grace is attractive. However, they are not attracted to the church which should be the repository of that grace and message. The key is to become more like Jesus. It must begin there. If we were more concerned with loving one another instead of correcting one another; if we were more focused on changing ourselves than changing others; then hypocrisy may begin to fade into the background of faith. For me, the most helpful reminder is a glance at my hands. There aren’t any nail-prints there. That means I haven’t got the right to judge the failures of another. Give it a try.