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Pecksniff was a character in one of Charles Dickens' novels who was utterly selfish and corrupt, yet hid behind an outer display of seeming benevolence. His name has become an adjective synonymous with sanctimonious and hypocritical. Hypocrisy deeply disturbed Jesus. He reserved his harshest remarks for religious hypocrites. Of all these, the Pharisees were his favorite target. They were big on rules and little on godliness; they were big on externals and little on internals; they were big on public commands and little on personal obedience; they were big on appearance and image and little on reality.
In one of my favorite PEANUTS cartoons the always fighting Lucy and Linus are holding hands and smiling sweetly, saying, "We are brother and sister and we love each other very much." Charlie Brown is outraged and says, "You're hypocrites, that's what you are! Do you really think you can fool Santa Claus this way?" Lucy responds, "Why not? We're a couple of sharp kids and he's just an old man." Hypocrisy is nothing new and no single group seems to have an exclusive corner on it. But religious hypocrisy is so absurd it would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic, distasteful, and offensive. We simply can't fool the all-knowing God like we can fool ourselves and others. If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that we spend a lot of time pretending, focusing on image and perception rather than real substance. One of the reasons we continue in this ruse is that it works. We've become very adept at impressing people with our manner, with our rhetoric, with our appearance, with our bravado. Blaise Pascal's famous observation rings true, "We attempt to live an imaginary life in the mind of others." This façade may impress and please people but it doesn't impress or please God, who sees right through it anyway.
In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee and a tax-gatherer who were praying in the temple. To appreciate the parable you must understand that Pharisees were very highly regarded and tax-gatherers were considered scum. The Pharisee proudly presented his own righteousness to God while the tax-gatherer humbly confessed his own unworthiness to God, pleading for mercy. In an unexpected twist, Jesus concludes that it is the tax-gatherer who will leave the temple approved by God, not the Pharisee.
This parable is an indictment on the shallow veneer of righteousness that is prevalent in religious circles. But it is not an endorsement of the tax-gatherer's sinful lifestyle. Jesus is telling us that everyone must approach God with humility to receive much needed mercy and grace. The Pharisee was lost, not because he was worse than the tax-gatherer, but because he was too proud and self-deceived to recognize his own need for mercy. Who are you more like: the Pharisee or the tax-gatherer? "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
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by Rev. J. Patrick Curtis, Senior Pastor |
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