HYPOCRITE! HYPOCRITE?
Jesus said, “As a man [person] thinks in his heart so is he.” He said this too, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” You don’t have to be a genius to understand those statements, do you?
Hmmm. Are they are simple as they sound?
This might be overstatement, I’m not sure, but I don’t think anything Jesus ever said was as simple as it sounds.
One of the reasons this kind of question arises for me is my own tendency to oversimplify [I admit I think I can see that tendency more easily in others].
Another is the temptation to judgmentalism. I wonder if that is another marked flaw in me. My self-appraisal says I’m not markedly that—I’m a humble man with a lot to be humble about, you see. If you knew me as I know me you would know the truth of that about me [but there’s always the need to pay attention to 1 Corinthians 4:3-4—yes?]. I’m well acquainted with some people whose speech and behavior leads me to think they’re judgmental and they’re quick to jump on a “transgressor” and when they’re cautioned about “judging” their reply is that they’re not “judging”; they’re simply “fruit inspectors”. Matthew 7:16-18 is a handy text to keep if you’re quick to damn someone but it’s another one of those texts that has in it more than meets the eye or ear.
A man I know of engaged in a series of truly wicked things—a series of them and unquestionably wicked. After the events I heard him say some of the most callous things possible. His response when he learned of the success of his sheer cruelty was something like, “Oh well, things like that happen in life. His bad luck.” It made me think of the words of the Lord Jesus—“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” And, again, “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.”
What makes matters even more reprehensible is this. I heard the same man pray and his prayer was so rich and wonderful it ought to be memorized. This was public prayer. Something like, “I can’t help talking about your love and justice, Lord. I even sing about it. I will do what’s right and live an upright life. I hate the wickedness that men engage in and I will have nothing to do with it.”
What a hypocrite! What a God-forsaken hypocrite!
The man was not only a churchgoer he was big on choirs and hymn singing. I thought of Jesus’ word, “Why call me Lord, Lord, and don’t do what I say?” You think that harsh? Well, you would have had to hear how fervently he spoke and know how savagely he behaved.
There’s more. I know more about the man that’s gravely evil and it tempts me to think that his darkness is even darker than the darkness I know to be in me. He tempts me to smugness and self-righteousness. Well, in the end, it doesn’t matter what I think, does it? It’s what God thinks. But, then again, I know what God thinks, do I not? Hasn’t Jesus spoken? Didn’t he lead James [3:11-12] to say a bitter spring won’t bring sweet water! He said a sweet spring wouldn’t bring bitter water! There can be no debate about this!
Hmmm. What complicates matters is that the man I heard was David. Same man! Psalm 101:1-8 and 2 Samuel 11, especially 11:25.
Hypocrite, was he?
“Explanations” are not hard to come by. “Yes, but…” is heard often enough [and should be!].
Listen! No complex question is as simple as smug simplifiers make it. How does the saying go, “To every complex question there’s a simple answer and it’s always wrong.”
These things should drive us to look more at the God who sees and knows all rather than to the other important issues that presently grab our undivided attention and lead to glib nonsense.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.
