All of the descriptions in the gospels about Jesus gives us the picture a leader who is humble and caring, but to much of everybody's dislike He was/is brutally honest too. He openly challenged the scribes and the Pharisees, men who had the power to condemn Him to death. Jesus couldn't stand hypocrisy, the double life that these men were living - while they appeared to be model Jews on the outside, their inside was filled with malice, wickedness and selfishness. They appeared to be noble and model citizens while indulging in impure and indecent desires.
One of the biggest challenges facing Christians in todays world is hypocrisy. It is quite possible to appear perfectly Christian on the outside – going to Mass, avoiding drunkenness and obviously lewd behavior, saying prayers, while giving in to evil thoughts and entertaining selfish desires on the inside. That kind of divided life cannot endure for long. We can never be satisfied with merely exterior piety, and we can never consider ourselves superior to others just because our sins are less visible. Christ wants us to avoid living a double life, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth" (Matthew 23:27).
Today's faith communities are filled with people who pretend to have faith (I can attest to it from my own life), they sing and speak the words of faith but do not believe in a God who is real. They worship instead a god of their own imagination, a god who gives them pleasant feelings and makes no demands of them. They are in love with a god who turns a blind eye on all the evil things they do as long as they show up to church on Sundays, as long as they "take care" of god. Hell and purgatory are all meaningless imaginations; their cozy "grandfather in the sky" would never judge them harshly because whatever they did down here on earth was in part to take care of grandpa, to "glorify" him. Sometimes we forget how frequently and explicitly Jesus spoke of evil and sin. Because Christ is so demanding with us, because He tells us directly how much we need to change our lives, we can trust that He has our best welfare in mind. He wants us to be with Him in heaven, so He sternly warns us against everything that could lure us in the opposite direction, even if that meant dying on a cross for saying the truth.
Every religion has exterior appearances like feasts and other extravagant ceremonies, but true faith flows from the heart, the place where we decide for or against our conscience, for or against God’s will. Our friendship with Christ, and the purpose, strength, and vigor that flows out of that friendship, depends on our inner allegiance to Him; looking like pure gold on the outside can never substitute for that. Jesus doesn’t care what we look like to others; He cares about who we really are - what we do when nobody is looking at us.
Do I pay too much attention to appearances, Lord? How you despised hypocrisy! But Lord, I fall into it every day! I say I am your follower, and yet look at some of the things I say, things I do, and things I think! I wonder why I am so unhappy all the time. Is it because I am seeking fulfillment in mere appearances, in social acceptance, in having the right reputation and possessions? Am I being too spent by keeping the cover over my true self? I find it impossible to resist the thrill of living a lie. You have tried to teach me the futility of that lifestyle. Give me the courage, wisdom, and love to live that lesson, and to pass it on.
"Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but (also) everyone for those of others. Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross." (Philippians 2:3-8)
P.S. This posting was inspired in part by an article by Fr. John Bartunek, a blogger on Catholic Spiritual Direction - http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/
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