Yesterday’s Gospel reading for the Holy Week Bridegroom Services included the following passage from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew:
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
It is a message that we do not want to hear. We want God to tell us that we have the right to ignore whatever any person says who is a hypocrite. But, here is the problem with hypocrites. (The rest of the reading from that passage of Scripture uses the word hypocrite many times.) They are actually all too often frustratingly right in much of what they say about external observances. They major on external observances. In fact, their knowledge of the minutiae of external observances is precisely what gives them their power. All too often they are correct when they critique someone else’s observance.
Here is the problem. The hypocrite does not observe what he/she requires of others. But, the hypocrite often does actually sit in the seat of Moses, in the sense that he/she actually knows what the Law requires. And, so, the scribes and the Pharisees in the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ were actually correct in much of what they said. Because they were hypocrites, Our Lord was unrelenting on them. Because they spoke correctly without themselves following what they said, they set up a discrepancy which led all too many people to deny the truth of God.
Mind you, there are some problems with hypocrites. One of them is that they often elevate what are normally considered minor rules to the level of major rules. Even when the rule is one that allows for different applications according to the circumstances, the hypocrite will insist that the rule must be applied in the way in which the hypocrite says it must be applied. And, the second is that they forget all the internal requirements of the Law. Thus, as Our Lord Jesus charged them, they ignore the most important requirements of God, to do justice, to love mercy, to take care of the poor, the widow and the orphan. As Jesus pointed out, they even refuse to take care of their parents, using the excuse of the Law in order to deny their parents the sustenance that is owed them. They use their knowledge of minutiae to justify their failure to follow the higher priority requirements.
Finally, at their worst, the hypocrite often engenders one of two reactions. One is that people leave the faith in sheer disgust at the hypocrite. But, the other is that people begin to disobey and grow lax in following the principles (canons) of their faith. The hypocrite teaches them, by their hypocrisy, that the requirements of their faith are either not important or that God did not really know what He was doing. And their constant failure to obey the more important requirements of the Law (or principles or canons) slowly lulls those who are trying to learn to follow God into ceasing that hunt for holiness and settling for legalistic mediocrity.
It is no wonder that Our Lord Jesus Christ so fiercely condemns the hypocrite in the long passage read in yesterday’s Bridegroom Service. Sadly, all churches are salted with hypocrites. It is one of Satan’s best tricks. And so, yesterday’s passage in the Bridegroom Services warns us sternly about the hypocrite and warns us to search ourselves for hypocrisy.
A very wise person once said to me that if the hypocrites were an impediment to my road to spiritual truth, I was on the wrong road. So hwo does one deal with those in our midst who insist on proclaiming the letter of the law as they see it while seeming to ignore the spirit of said law and the Spirit who moves within? My Patron Saint, Saint Maria Skobtsova (Mother Maria of Paris) said this in her Essential Writings.
“If someone turns with his spiritual world toward the spiritual world of another person,” she reflected, “he encounters an awesome and inspiring mystery …. He comes into contact with the true image of God in man, with the very icon of God incarnate in the world, with a reflection of the mystery of God’s incarnation and divine manhood. And he needs to accept this awesome revelation of God unconditionally, to venerate the image of God in his brother. Only when he senses, perceives and understands it will yet another mystery be revealed to him — one that will demand his most dedicated efforts …. He will perceive that the divine image is veiled, distorted and disfigured by the power of evil …. And he will want to engage in battle with the devil for the sake of the divine image.”
I am striving to live up to her words. If God can love me, flawed as I am, unconditionally, then I must be willing to be His love for someone else. For the Lord called us to love one another and I think He meant….not only when they like me, not only when it is convenient, not only when they please me…but unconditionally especially when He added the part about loving our enemies and praying for those who despitefully use you. I confess that This is not my best thing, but daily I pray that I may grow in His Grace enough to be even an ever so pale and flawed imitation of Him.
Alix