‘Woe to you Pharisees, hypocrites’ - 13 July 2006

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.’ Matthew 23:25-26 NIV
"You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You're like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down its all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you're saints, but beneath the skin you're total frauds’. Matthew23:27-28 The Message
I wish I had a pound for every time I have heard Christians referred to as hypocrites. And it is hard to refute that because we know really we are not what reputation would make us out to be. I’m no Mother Theresa after all and I bet that sainted lady would have been the first to admit she wasn’t either on a bad day. It’s very difficult to live up to that saintly reputation that we have and that makes us feel guilty. Then it’s just a short step to maybe giving people an idea that we are as good as we’d like to be and when everyone is doing that it becomes more and more difficult to be the honest one and admit the truth. Before we know it we are shouting out our prayers in the church and wearing sackcloth and ashes when we fast, making sure we have an audience when we give a coin to a beggar, then sneaking off round a corner to do something disreputable.
But sooner or later the mask has to slip, we can’t keep it up forever and then everyone knows what God knew all along. So what is wrong? Just the unreal expectations we have of each other and ourselves. When we do that we hide the Gospel, which tells the world that we are all just saved sinners and invites other unsaved sinners to join the club.
It takes courage to be vulnerable enough to get alongside someone and admit that inside that squeaky clean exterior was a real mucky mess just like theirs until Jesus stepped in and sorted it. I have always found it worth the effort when I have. But maybe not often enough.
‘To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-33 (New International Version)