HYPOCRITES!” Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16) August 23, 2015 Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT: [Jesus] said to [the Pharisees and the scribes]. “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
Mark 7:6-8 (ESV)
“Hypocrite” is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot (perhaps even more so as we are about to enter an election year). It is most often used to expose the inconsistencies of one’s opponents. It’s a word that Jesus used quite often when He talked to or about the religious leaders of His day. Actually the word in the original is , which refers to a performer--an actor on a stage. I suppose it’s a pretty good term to use to describe what we call hypocrisy, since an actor’s job is to pretend to be something that he’s not. In fact, an actor’s success is determined by how well and how convincingly he can portray various different characters. I always thought that the late Larry Hagman was great at this, being such a likable guy when he played Major Tony Nelson on “I Dream of Jeannie” and such a villain when he played J. R. Ewing on “Dallas” a few years later. But being good at that requires at least a little bit of deception and phoniness.
The words of Jesus before us this morning came in response to an in incident described earlier in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees and scribes criticized Jesus and His disciples for eating without first undergoing the ceremonial washing of their hands, as dictated by “the tradition of the elders” (Mark 7:7). There is more in this criticism than mere arrogance or a feeling of superiority on the part of these religious leaders; what really concerns Jesus and moves Him to speak to them so harshly is that, according to their teaching and practice, the very Word and “commandment of God” was being ignored while “the tradition of men” was highly exalted and considered to be the all-important thing. The Law of God, given to Moses in ten simple commandments, had been interpreted by them in such a way that they ended up with 613 minute and burdensome regulations. To use a very old and overused expression, they couldn’t see the forest for the trees. So that we might be guarded against a similar error, this morning we will examine Jesus’ words to the religious leaders to see how the words of Isaiah that He quoted applied to them and how they apply to us today.
The words of Isaiah quoted by Jesus in this text were originally addressed to the religious leaders of the prophet’s day. They had failed to lead the people of God in a faithful way, turning instead to their own interests and pleasures. Their own importance had become a higher priority for them than the glory of the God who they were supposed to representing and serving. As the voice of God, Isaiah spoke harsh and unpopular words of judgment to them. God’s word of Law and judgment is harsh, but such harshness is necessary to bring stubborn sinners to a point where they despair of their own righteousness and are forced to look for mercy.
Jesus perceived the same attitude on the part of the religious leaders of His day. They paid so much attention to the details of human tradition that they totally ignored the essence of God’s Law. The entire Law of God can be summed up in one word, and that word is love. The Ten Commandments are nothing more or less than ten specific ways in which we are commanded to show love toward God and our neighbor. But the religious leaders of Jesus’ day showed not love but judgment toward those whose personal piety differed from their own. As far as they were concerned, those who failed to live up to their standards were outside the faith--or at the very least were inferior to them. In many ways their complicated regulations actually contradicted the clear Law of God. What’s more, they failed to see that, even with all of their piety, they were no more righteous than the people who they criticized.
What happened in the time of Isaiah and in the time of Jesus continues to happen in our day as well. There are still some people who are more conscientious about observing “the traditions of men” than they are about observing “the commandment of God.” The reason for this is obvious: It’s a lot easier to outwardly do “lip service” to very specific regulations than it is to have your heart and mind set on the will of God. It’s easier to come to church on Sunday than it is to make God and His revealed Word the number one priority in your life throughout the week. It’s easier to abstain from eating meat on certain days than it is to be mindful of your spiritual poverty and your total dependence on God. God’s Law is not primarily about specific actions; it’s about an attitude of the heart. It not only demands that we do certain things and avoid other things; it also requires that we do them or avoid them for the right reasons.
Observing tradition does not justify anyone before God or make a person better than the one who doesn’t. Fulfilling God’s will on God’s terms does. But none of us is able to do that. That’s why God in His mercy became human in Christ to do it for us. By perfectly fulfilling the Law and will of God and by offering to God the perfect sacrifice for human sin when He suffered and died on the cross, Jesus made atonement for all. And by sending His Spirit to work faith in us through the Gospel, He has adopted us as His own and has brought us into His kingdom of grace, forgiving our sin and reconciling us to Himself.
Tradition can be and often is a good thing. It gives us a sense of who we are and it reminds us that we are a part of something bigger and greater than ourselves. But it must always be subject to the clear Word of God. If it isn’t, then tradition becomes the master of God’s Word rather than its servant. Some of us choose to fast on certain days and others do not. Some of us make the sign of the cross at certain times and others do not. Some of us keep a disciplined schedule of personal Bible study and prayer and others do not. All of this is fine and good, as long as neither of the parties involved starts feeling superior to the other or accuses the other of doing something wrong. Whatever human traditions we choose to observe are good if they help us to focus on Christ and what He has done for us. But if observing those traditions begins to take on a life of its own and thereby becomes a distraction from our focus on the cross of Jesus, then we find ourselves in the same place where the Pharisees and scribes were in today’s Gospel. The Word of God alone--the Law and the Gospel--give us everything that we will ever need: the realization that we are sinners who have been redeemed and saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Anything that helps us to remember and focus on these essential truths is good and right. Anything that draws us away from them is hypocritical and evil. The Spirit of God, who works in and through that Word according to the will of God, will preserve us from the distractions of the evil one, bringing us at last into communion “with angels and archangels and with all company of heaven” (Lutheran Service Book-Altar Book, page 161) to join, by His grace, the “great . . . cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) singing His praises in glory forever.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.