Hypocrisy

     Hey y'all! I'm back this week with a bit of a different type of post. This is something that I've thought about doing for a while, and have actually had a draft of since November (yeah, almost a year), but I'm finally getting around to polishing it up and showing it to you!

     I wrote a little bit on John 5:1-17 for my New Testament survey class last fall, and I wanted to turn in into a little bit more of a fleshed-out explanation because it was really interesting and impactful to me. 

     This section in John talks about Jesus' healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. But the main point of the passage exposes the utter hypocrisy and self-righteousness of the Pharisees.

     Hypocrisy can be defined as the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. It comes from the Greek word hypodrisis, which was used to describe an actor on the stage – someone who was pretending to be something they were not. The Bible mentions hypocrites quite a bit.

     Jesus mentioned hypocrites sixteen times throughout the Gospels. Matthew is where the majority of these references are found. When Jesus mentioned hypocrites or hypocrisy, it was always in connection with the Jewish leaders of the day – the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes.

      These Jewish leaders were considered some of the most righteous people in Israel, but they were prime examples of hypocrisy. They were outwardly religious: giving, praying and fasting consistently (Matthew 6:2-16). 

      But while they seemed religious and obedient on the outside, they really were not following the Old Testament Law in the way it was meant to be followed. Jesus said they were like “whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).

     In John 5, Jesus heals a paralytic who had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years. Jesus came to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. It was customary at this time if you were sick or injured to lie at a pool like this. Some say that the pool was red with minerals and these were thought to have medicinal value.

      Jesus sees this man lying by the pool and knows that he had been sick for some time. John’s use of the word “knew” in verse six implies a supernatural knowledge, which further supports John’s claim that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus tells the man to get up, pick up his mat and walk, and the man is instantly healed. 

     At this point in the story the Jews (which was a term typically given to the religious leaders of the day) enter the scene, and they make a big fuss to the man about why he was carrying his mat on the Sabbath. Though Old Testament law did prohibit work on the Sabbath, "work" was assumed to be someone’s usual job. 

     However, the Jews had added other activities that were considered “work” as part of their oral law. It was this oral law the former paralytic was breaking. After discovering that someone else had instructed the paralytic to break the Sabbath, the Jewish authorities wanted to know who - but the former paralytic didn’t know who Jesus was.

     Later, the man meets Jesus again, and after speaking to Him, goes and tells the Jews who had healed him. The Jews began to persecute Jesus because He was healing and ordering others to break the “law” (or the oral law the Jews had made up) on the Sabbath. 

     What is so fascinating to me is how blind the Jews are to their own hypocrisy. They’re making this huge deal out of something that they literally invented, made up. Jesus wasn’t breaking the Old Testament law, He was breaking the fake, oral law. 

     Now, getting to what really made me think twice about this passage. The obviousness of the Jews' hypocrisy really makes me take a second look at my own heart. How many times have I judged others? For example: how often have I looked down on other women simply because they wear pants to church on Sunday while I wear skirts? Or they listen to that type of music that I would never dream of listening to? 

     But there are so many things that I do that are much worse than wearing pants on Sunday or listening to certain music. When I have those thoughts I am failing to realize that I am being judgmental - and just as hypocritical as the Jewish authorities in the Bible. 

     The big idea that I just want you to mull over, and that I really need to mull on more, is how much more aware we should be of our judgmental tendencies and thoughts. We should be so slow to judge others, and so quick to examine our own hearts. Take the log out of your own eye before trying to remove the speck from your brother's (Matthew 7:1-5).

     Jeremiah 17:9 is a well-known verse that says: "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" But I don't think we really think about what the next verse says: "I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind..." 

     God searches our hearts, He knows our deepest motives, He clearly sees all of our hypocrisy. Our plea should be "search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."

     Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week. :)

~ Anna