DAY 332 - Transformed Hypocrites

Mark 7:1-2, 5-6 (NIV) The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus ² and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. ⁵ So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Matthew 23:25-28 (NIV) ²⁵ “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. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. ²⁷ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

James 5:16 (NIV) ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Originally the word hypocrite had no negative connotation and was used to refer to an actor who pushed aside his own personality to play the part of another. But, it is not a long jump from play acting to pretense, pretending to be someone we are not and to be someone who conceals real motives, real feelings, the real self. The hypocrite is someone who by pretense seeks to deceive another person.

Are we the people we appear to be to others or are we role playing hypocrites? Are we phony in our relationships? Are we afraid to be the person we really are, to let what is in our hearts be expressed in our daily behavior? God is not shocked by any wrong thing we ever have done or will do, but is put off by our hypocrisy when we conceal our hearts. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of our hypocrisy is that it not only cuts us off from God and from other people, but ultimately also from ourselves. We play the role until we believe our own pretense. It is no wonder that no sin is more strongly condemned than hypocrisy. 

But there is hope for the hypocrite when confronted by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. God has a special place and purpose in His Kingdom for transformed hypocrites. They are the most powerful, influential representatives God has in this world. When we receive God’s grace and confess our true sins to Him in the presence of another person who has discovered God’s grace and acceptance, forgiveness becomes real. We need someone present with us to incarnate the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and help us discontinue our self-deceiving ways. It’s Biblical and it works, bringing inward unity, peace and reconciliation.

From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 23, 1975

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell (Broyles)