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When you hear the word ‘hypocrite’, what comes to mind? Well, I believe that whatever it is it is not something kind. There is just something about a bold-faced hypocrite that causes even a convicted murderer to show disdain to such a person. It seems that people would rather have an ‘honest lawbreaker’ than one who hides and pretends that he’s well disciplined. I guess it is man’s way of saying, “To thy own self be true!”
But what does Jesus Christ have to say on the topic of hypocrisy? It is not at all a new concept, you know? Hypocrisy spans the length and breadth of known history, all the way back to Eden with Adam and Eve. The Word of God said, “… when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” [Genesis 3: 6 – 7]. Once they have sinned, what did they do? They proceeded to ‘cover up’ their mistake with fig leaves.
When you hear the word ‘hypocrite’, what comes to mind? Well, I believe that whatever it is it is not something kind. There is just something about a bold-faced hypocrite that causes even a convicted murderer to show disdain to such a person. It seems that people would rather have an ‘honest lawbreaker’ than one who hides and pretends that he’s well disciplined. I guess it is man’s way of saying, “To thy own self be true!”
But what does Jesus Christ have to say on the topic of hypocrisy? It is not at all a new concept, you know? Hypocrisy spans the length and breadth of known history, all the way back to Eden with Adam and Eve. The Word of God said, “… when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” [Genesis 3: 6 – 7]. Once they have sinned, what did they do? They proceeded to ‘cover up’ their mistake with fig leaves.
Like all of us, who at some point mess up and shoved the dirt under the rug, Adam and Eve tried to make an outward covering for an internal sickness. But for healing humanity needs One who can go deep into the heart and transform the heart and mind, making them into new creatures. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” [II Corinthians 5: 17].
Many people hide their sins with their own ‘fig leaves’. For some of us it is our exemplary family structure, for others it is our education or physical beauty. But God sees past all that and looks into the heart and mind. He sees everything. Concerning hypocrites Jesus said, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, ‘They have their reward.’” [St. Matthew 6: 5]. According to Jesus, hypocrites live outwardly ‘clean’ lives but their hearts are evil and corrupt.
He didn’t have kind words for hypocrites: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” [St. Matthew 23: 27 – 28]. For the Scribes and Pharisees, their fig leaves were their ‘good and spiritual’ deeds, but Jesus saw right through it. Whenever someone sins or do what they deemed to be sin, they were always the first to stand in judgment. Never looking inwardly, they look at the shortcomings of others and condemn. And how many of us are like that? We confess the sins of others and determine their punishment, but what about us? When are we going to take off the fig leaves and open our wounds before God? This is what God desires of us. He wants heartfelt confession and repentance.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but God wants us naked again. He wants to take our fig leaves from us, making us honest and open. Let me close with an example of the honest man and the hypocrite: “Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’” [Luke 18: 10 – 13].
Don’t be one who ‘Prays with himself’, remove the fig leaves and go to Christ in sincerity! God will always listen to anyone who wants change. If it’s change you want, it is Jesus Christ you want.
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Yes, this is true! When th...
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