“Holy Hypocrisy”

Hypocrisy. It’s the thing most people who don’t go to church say keeps them out of church. I hear this a lot. “Pastor, I’d really like to come to church, but I just can’t stand all the hypocrites in the pews.” To this I smile and reply: “Well, you know, there’s always room for one more…” While this may not seem to help our attendance much, it is an honest answer. And truth is what Jesus is all about, after all. It will set you free. Really.

Hypocrisy is when the outward profession does not match the inner reality. So, of course, our pews are filled with hypocrites. Our pulpits too. There is only One whose saying and being and doing always lined up perfectly; only One where outward word and inner reality always match; only One incapable of hypocrisy—and that kind of consistency just got Him nailed up on a cross one Friday afternoon outside Jerusalem…

My fellow hypocrites—do you think I’m being too hard on us all by calling us all a bunch of hypocrites? Well then, consider the chief priests and elders in our Gospel this morning and see if that doesn’t change your mind…

Jesus came to the Temple at the beginning of Holy Week (our Gospel takes place just after the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday) and the chief priests were waiting for Him. It wasn’t so much what Jesus was saying that was bugging them (though that was pretty annoying, actually) as it was the things He was doing that were intolerable. He forgave sinners!—all of them, and they seemed to believe this really made them righteous in the sight of Almighty God! Imagine: hookers, drug dealers, tax cheats, government informers, deadbeats, layabouts, and Wall Street execs with millions of ill-gotten dollars lining their pockets, were walking around like none of that would keep them out of the Kingdom of God! As if they were God’s special favorites just because Jesus liked them and forgave them and called them His brothers and sisters. They seemed to think that opened heaven’s door for them, despite all their bad behavior.

Now, who will reform his life and give back his golden parachute to the poor folks mortgaged to the hilt if he believes Jesus has forgiven all his sin without his works or personal renewal? Who will toe the line if Jesus convinces everyone the line has been erased by the blood He will shed for the world on the cross? Who will listen to the priests teaching their laws for godly living, if Godliness is a gift you’ve already got through the Word of Jesus? The chief priests’ answer was: “no one will!” So Jesus had to be stopped!

 It was even worse. Jesus not only forgave sinners. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He turned water into wine. He backed His forgiveness with mighty deeds of power that no one could gainsay. The chief priests saw their whole world crashing down…

So the chief priests intercepted Jesus on His way into the temple. “Whoa, whoa there, bub. Hang on a second. Before you start today’s little talk, you need to answer a question of ours. By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

Jesus just smiles and says “Hey, a question! Aren’t questions great? I’ll tell you what; I’ll answer your question if you just answer this one of Mine first: the baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?” And the chief priests go in the corner and have their little consultation with their advisors. And they reasoned about it: if they say “from heaven” Jesus will go “Then why didn’t you believe him!” (Because John said Jesus is the Son of God and all follow Him). If they say “from men” the people might just stone them right there for they all counted John as a prophet. So they say “We don’t know.”

Interesting. Here’s the problem with hypocrisy. It always leads us to talk more than to listen. If only they’d added to their admission of ignorance a plea that Jesus teach them the truth… well things would have been different. But they just refuse to answer.

And Jesus says “Neither will I answer you. But I will tell you a story…” It’s a story about two sons. Their father tells them both to go into His vineyard to work and the first says “I’m playing Halo on Xbox 360! I won’t go.” But later he regrets this, and goes despite what he said earlier. The second son jumps off the couch and says: “I go, sir!” But he doesn’t go. He watches the NFL on DirecTV.

So, Jesus asks, “which son did the will of their father?” This question the chief priests can answer. “The first,” they said. “Right,” Jesus says. “in the same way, tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. John came to you in the way of righteousness but you would not believe him. They believed him, confessed their sins, and entered through My forgiveness, but when you saw the truth, you wouldn’t budge!”

Notice: both sons are hypocrites! Say and do don’t match with either. But one son’s hypocrisy is evil while the other’s is…good! You didn’t know there is a holy kind of hypocrisy? Ah, well, I have good news of great joy for hypocrites everywhere…

You can indeed go one of two ways down the hypocrite trail. Path A, the most traveled, is to say you are a good person because you are well meaning, right thinking, and just a little better than some folks you know. Certainly better than the predatory lenders of Wall Street. You can say that you go and work for God every day in His vineyard and you can talk a lot about religion and righteousness and maybe even convince a few other folks you are right in what you say. This son says he goes, but really, goes nowhere. This is evil hypocrisy, because Jesus will show that what you say is not true. You are not good and righteous as you claim. You lie. You are a sad, bad hypocrite.

Or, you can take the less traveled B road: you can say right now that you are lazy, lousy, sinful, and good for nothing. As the tax collectors and harlots confessed. But Jesus is a contrarian; by His Word, through faith alone, He makes that statement untrue by the righteousness He gifts you through Word and Sacrament alone. It works like this:

You say you are a worthless sinner, and point to your many iniquities and failures. But Jesus will raise you up, and, at Last, point to many good works He says you have done for Him, and the least of His brethren. Then, you will see He says this only because He credits you with His works as if they were your own, through the faith the Holy Spirit alone worked in you by the Word. None of it was your doing (Jesus did it, in your Baptism—there He made a hypocrite of you: as you confessed your sin, He made you righteous, by Himself). So you are still a hypocrite—saying you are evil while Jesus sees only good. But this is holy, blessed hypocrisy, a divine joke you will laugh over with Jesus forever in the Kingdom where joy is never-ending.

Holy hypocrisy! The bad people, harlots, and junk bond traders are racing into God’s Kingdom ahead of us! But there is always room for a few more. Seats are still free. You can have yours at the Table up here, right now. Here, the body and blood of Jesus go into your mouth, and then your outer confession of sin and worthlessness no longer matches that inner reality of Christ’s righteousness—therefore, holy hypocrisy. Just so, the Peace that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Always. Amen.