Most mornings, I play a local Christian music station on the radio while I drive my son to school. Between songs, the morning host will often share some inspirational or Christian-themed news of the day. The other day, he related a story about how a homeless man was treated by a particular Christian congregation before a Sunday service. According to the story, the elders announced the name of the new pastor to the congregation and then this occurred:
The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with all eyes on him. He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’ “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ‘The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry, and many heads were bowed in shame. He then said, “Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?” He then dismissed service until next week.
This story didn’t hit me in the way that the host of the radio show intended. I thought that if this is indeed a true story, the pastor basically joined the sentiments of those who hate Christians in order to call out the members of his congregation as hypocrites. And worst of all, the the pastor sent them on their way without any discussion or catechesis. If I were a part of that congregation, I would consider looking for a new church.
In contrast to the above story, I prefer the insight from my priest of 30 years ago. He said that people told him that they didn’t like going to church because there were so many hypocrites there. My priest’s response was, “There’s always room for one more.”
All of this got me thinking about how hypocrite is used so often as a club to beat your rival or political opponent. Certainly, we are all hypocritical at times, but the hatred people express when calling someone a hypocrite is astounding. I would argue that even beyond Dennis Prager’s list of names liberals use to shut down debate with conservatives (“sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, and bigoted, not to mention anti-intellectual and anti-science”), being called a hypocrite is probably the worst thing a person can be accused of in today’s society.
In the Bible, we know that Jesus used the term. Hypocrite appears in the New International Version (NIV) translation of the gospels 17 times: once in Mark, three times in Luke, and thirteen times in Matthew.
Most of these references are directed at the “teachers of the law and Pharisees,” who the Bible tells us were often at odds with Jesus. But who were these “teachers of the law and Pharisees” that received Jesus’ condemnation?
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines hypocrite with two entries:
1: a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2: a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
The more common definition that we think of today is the second entry. But the first entry is the older meaning and probably closer to the Jesus’ meaning in the gospels. Etymologically, the Greek origin of hypocrite is hypokritḗs, meaning “actor on a stage, pretender.”
So I think that we have to be careful about pointing to Jesus’ use of the term in the gospels and drawing a straight line to religious people of today. I think Jesus is commenting on the false religiosity (as in putting on a play) as well as the pride of the “teachers of the law and Pharisees,” which is what made these people the hypocrites of Jesus’ condemnation.
As it stands in the United States today in 2019, there is no cultural status in being a Christian, and most Christians I know are not prideful people. There are some to be sure, and they match Jesus’ meaning of the word, but most Christians I know are doing their best to honor God and to follow Jesus.
At the same time, Christians find themselves stuck between the rock of trying to live a moral life and evangelize the faith and the hard place of being human and failing in that endeavor. People who hate Christians and God denounce those who are not perfect as hypocrites and even worse. On almost any day, I can go to Yahoo.com and read an article that paints the Catholic Church or a particular Christian in a negative way. If you have the stomach to read through the hundreds of reader comments to these articles, you will see a majority of commenters blasting the faith and its practitioners. At best, the Christian faithful are seen as sheep, blindly following outdated dogma. At worst, they are seen as accomplices in the raping of children, stealing from indigenous people, and hating women and homosexuals. The last thing Christians need at this time are pastors who humiliate their congregants as hypocrites. That assault merges seamlessly with the goals of the political left, which desires the elimination of Christianity.
Fifty years ago, the leftist organizer Saul Alinsky published a book called Rules for Radicals. These rules are often mentioned at Instapundit.com and other right-leaning websites because conservative commentators find it is helpful to know what the political opposition is thinking, and also because there are opportunities for the right to use Alinsky’s rules against the left.
Alinsky specifically mentions Christians in Rule #4:
“The fourth rule is: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
This is perhaps the most difficult of Alinsky’s rules to successfully counter if you are a Christian, and he knows it. Here, the accusation of “Hypocrite!” stings the most because the person of faith is at a disadvantage because they are attempting to transcend basic human nature around power and selfishness. This makes some people very angry, and they lash out at any failing from a person of faith. And a Christian’s tenants of faith are not secret, so anyone who grew up in America knows even in passing enough about the teachings of Jesus that he can turn the tables on a Christian.
Christians are in a tough position in these times of divided culture and politics because Christians depend on decency and understanding, even from those who don’t share our beliefs. The left is not interested in extending either of these considerations to Christians, mainly because they see Christianity as one of several enemies. With all this in mind, I can say pretty assuredly that one thing that believers today do not need is to be labeled a hypocrite by other Christians.
