Foundry United
Rev.
“Temptation: Biblical Insights on Why
Good Wants to Go Bad”
Sunday, August 28,
2011
Rev.
Temptation: Why idealism becomes hypocrisy
Matthew 23:25-36
Let's start out today by looking at some Greek words. The first one is the Greek word oujaiv (pronounced oo-ah'-ee).
There are seven sentences in the 23rd chapter of Matthew that begin with the word oujaiv.
Six of the seven begin the same way: oujaiv you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Most translations of the Bible translate oujaiv you as: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.
When you've been irritated or angry at someone, how many of you have said to them, Woe to you? You are really bothering me. Woe to you. I've really had it with you. Woe to you!
The idea of a good translation is that the English word you use to translate a Greek word ought to be one that people actually use.
So some translators have tried to figure out a better translation for oujai.
The Bible in Basic English translates it "A curse is on you…"God's Word translation is "How awful it will be for you…" Good News "How terrible for you…" TheAnchor Bible translation is: "Away with you…" The Message translates it "You're hopeless…"
Do you know how the Jesus Seminar translates oujai -- oujai you? Damn you!
Damn you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. And that is probably the best translation, although there are those who think damn is still too tame a word.
So there are six woe to yous or damn yous in the 23rd chapter of Matthew. Six times Jesus starts a sentence by saying: Woe to you or damn you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
The other Greek word I want to look at is uJpokrithvß [hoop-ok-ree-tace' ]. The word we translate hypocrite.
The Greek word uJpokrithvß originally just meant "actor" or "actress." It was used of performers in Greek plays. A hypocrite was an actor or actress. It originally did not have the negative connotation it does today.
Do you know who gave the word hypocrite the negative connotation it has come to have today? Who do you think? What name is usually a good answer in church?
The Greek word for hypocrite is used 20 times in the Bible. Every time it is used it is used by Jesus. Every time it is used it has a negative connotation.
The theologian philosopher Dallas Willard writes: "It is clear from the literary records that it was Jesus alone who brought this term hypocrisy and the corresponding character into the moral record of the Western world. It is ironic that even when, precisely when, we criticize the church for producing hypocrites, we pay tribute to this Man Jesus whose teaching gave us the picture of hypocrisy that shapes our moral understanding 2,000 years later."
Jesus hated hypocrisy. Dallas Willard thinks Jesus invented the concept the way we use it today.
Six times in Matthew 23 Jesus says Damn you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
What was it about the scribes and Pharisees that so irritated Jesus?
Let's look at a few examples of what Jesus considered to be hypocrisy.
Matthew 23:24-25 –
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.
To tithe is to give one-tenth of your income to the temple. The scribes and Pharisees were so meticulous in their tithing that they even gave one-tenth of the herbs they grew in flower pots on their window sills to the temple; which the law did not require.
But they did not translate their personal religious commitment into a commitment to justice and mercy within the larger society. They were meticulous in personal piety but did not care about structural societal justice.
I read somewhere recently, that it was common for those who opposed racial integration in the public schools to be generous in helping to pay college tuition for their African-American maid's son or daughter.
There are those who treat gay and lesbian friends and relatives kindly but who oppose marriage equality.
There are those who have undocumented people working for them and treat them fairly who oppose immigration reform.
If your religion does not influence your politics, Jesus called that hypocrisy. If you are religious and loving in church but oppressive to the poor in business, Jesus called that hypocrisy.
Then he adds this other idea at the end: "It is these you should have done without neglecting the others." Which suggests that there is also a problem if your politics is generous and your personal giving is not. That's not something I'd ever say to anybody but that is what Jesus seems to be saying.
I know someone who teaches tithing frequently in his church. Giving 10 percent of our income to God – tithing. It comes up in maybe half his sermons. He says that tithing has changed his relationship with God and he doesn't want others to miss what he has experienced.
He tells me that people in his congregation will sometimes approach him and argue that tithing is an Old Testament practice – part of the Old Testament law that the church has transcended. And they will ask him what he thinks about that. He answers them by saying "It depends. Do you want to give more or less than 10 percent?"
Listen, Jesus is saying we can not be religious about giving to the temple and oppressive in our politics or business. And we can not be liberal in our politics and stingy in our personal finances.
That would seem to be one example Jesus gives of hypocrisy.
Let's look at another example of hypocrisy from Jesus:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, "If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell? (Matt. 23:29-33)
This might also be an accurate translation: "You build monuments for the prophets." You build monuments for the prophets and say "If we had only lived in those times of social advancement and would have been able to be part of the movement."
This is a tough scripture to happen to be our lesson during this particular weekend.
Cornell West reminded us this past week that in polls taken in Dr. King's last years of life, his disapproval rate among whites was 72 percent and his disapproval rates among blacks was 55 percent. He had entitled the sermon he was scheduled to preach the Sunday after his assassination "Why America May Go to Hell."
He wasn't saying that he wanted America to go to hell but that we as a nation were headed toward hell because of our economic injustice, cultural decay, and political paralysis.
Marian Wright Edlemann has written an amazing essay which I have posted on Foundry's Facebook page. She points out that we all remember the "I have a Dream" part of Dr. King's speech. But that was not his main theme. His main theme the bounced check America had written to its Black and poor citizens.
The March was actually named The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The focus of Dr. King's speech was economic.
But too few people remember that the March on Washington wasn’t focused just on racial equality but was actually named the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was a demand for economic opportunity and economic justice for all. Too few know or remember the central metaphor that made up the first half of Dr. King’s speech: the bounced check America had written to its Black and poor citizens.
Dr. Edelmann writes.
Dr. King said we had come to the nation’s capital that August day to cash a check America had written nearly two hundred years earlier. He reminded us that when our nation’s founders wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, they had created a promissory note that guaranteed all Americans the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But instead of honoring that promise for Black Americans, America had defaulted on it and given us a bad check that had come back marked “insufficient funds.” Dr. King said those of us who had come to the 1963 March on Washington - over 200,000 strong - were there to cash our checks because we refused to believe “the bank of justice is bankrupt” or that “there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.”
She writes:
The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)’s recent The State of America’s Children 2011 report shows millions of children and families fell into poverty in 2009 from the economic downturn, jeopardizing America’s promise of a productive future for them and for our nation. One in every five children - 15.5 million - was poor in 2009. Children of color, who will be a majority of our child population in 2019, continue to suffer disproportionately. In 2009 more than one in three Black and one in three Hispanic children lived in poverty compared to more than one in ten White non-Hispanic children. And the younger they are the poorer they are. These helpless poor babies cannot fight powerful corporate lobbyists and their political allies.
She writes:
When Dr. King died calling for a Poor People’s Campaign, there were 11 million poor children in America. Today, with 15.5 million poor children, millions living in extreme poverty, I’ve no doubt he’d be calling for a new Poor People’s Campaign with a sense of urgency.
Then she adds something she's said in Foundry's pulpit: "He’s not coming back. It’s up to us to pick up the mantle of justice."
It is not me. Jesus says it is a very dangerous thing to build a monument to a prophet and suppose you would have been part of his movement in the time he lived unless we are going to be part of the struggle that is happening in the time in which we do live. Jesus calls this hypocrisy.
None of us lives up to our values 100 percent. The higher our values, the greater the temptation for us to be tempted by hypocrisy. The more idealistic we are the greater temptation to allow our lives to not align with the values we espouse...and not just espouse but actually believe in.
How do we live lives that will allow us to resist the temptation toward hypocrisy?
I think the answer is in the verse that comes right after Jesus' Woe to you's/Damn you's.
Matthew 23:37 – "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"
The way is to let God love us. So that we don't care so much how perfect other people think we are. And so that we ourselves don't need to try to be better than we are.
Hypocrisy comes from trying to be better than we are.
Jesus hates hypocrisy. He damns it. Jesus doesn't want you to try to be better than you are. Don't be less than you are. But don't try to be better than you are either.
We all have this one lifetime. We will not be as good as we want to be. We will not accomplish everything we want to accomplish. So live in grace. God's grace. God's love. Let Christ gather you under his wings. It will heal our hypocrisy.
www.foundryumc.org