Hypocrisy. It has to be one of the most damaging accusations you can make against someone nowadays. It is particularly damaging for someone trying to communicate something. If you are found to be a hypocrite, the message you are trying to get across ends up completely obscured by the fact that you are not practising what you preach.
The accusation of hypocrisy is frequently made in the political arena. There have been examples of politicians from all parties, for example, who have gone on about how important it is to keep the COVID restrictions, only to be caught out on a bus or train without a mask, or at a party with people who shouldn’t have been there.
Hypocrisy is similarly one of the most frequently heard criticisms of Christian belief. “Why should I believe in Jesus?” people say, “You Christians are no better than anyone else.” This is usually followed by a long list of the church’s greatest historical misdemeanours.
In today’s gospel Jesus himself speaks of the great danger of hypocrisy, of saying one thing and doing another. He speaks of two sons, who are asked to work in their father’s vineyard. One of them says yes, but ends up not doing what his father asked him. Strangely it ends up being the other son, the one who refused to work in the vineyard who actually does the will of his father. That first son doesn’t practice what he preaches, whilst the son who seems rebellious and disobedient is actually the one who strangely is most loyal and loving.
At the heart of what Jesus is criticising is basically this. You can’t say one thing but do another. And saying one thing but doing another leads to empty religion. Empty gestures; empty prayer; rules and regulations which have lost their meaning. To underline this, Jesus remarks to the chief priests and elders, “I tell you solemnly, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of heaven before you.”
So how can we catch ourselves when we fall into hypocrisy? How can we make sure that in our daily living we practise what we preach?
I think there’s one word that’s very important and which we can look to as the opposite of hypocrisy. It’s the word authentic. Our Christian life together needs to be authentic. An authentic living out of the gospel. For if people see that in our life together, they will find the message we bear more believable.
What does it mean to live out the gospel authentically? Gospel life which is authentic is life rooted in love. Sacrificial love. Christ like love – the sort of love we see God showing for us in Jesus.
Christian love is often quite simple and much more practical than people imagine. We often think being a good Christian is about showing heroic virtue. Sometimes the love God calls us to show is much simpler than that. It’s about serving our local community in ways which are sometimes quite run-of-the mill. Being a governor of a local school; checking on an elderly neighbour; offering to carry someone’s shopping home; helping man a food bank.
Authentic gospel love also tells us something about the way in which we should see ourselves. Being a Christian is not about being perfect or sinless. We need to admit that we are fallible human beings as much as those outside the Church are. Being a Christian is about being on a pilgrimage to God through life – that will involve many ups and downs, many mistakes and confusions.
The difference for a Christian is that we know we can seek forgiveness and a fresh start from God when we make a mess of things. Through those mistakes we learn with God’s grace how to live just a little bit closer to him. So being a community rooted in love also involves us being humble about our own limitations.
So we are reminded today by Jesus of the danger of hypocrisy. If we are to be a community which authentically lives out the gospel, then we need to be rooted in love. Real love is the perfect antidote to hypocrisy: a love that gives of itself and that shows we care…and that we are willing to serve others as our Lord and Master taught us.