Day 33: Hypocrisy

Read Luke 20-21

In this chapter Jesus signifies the difference between Him and any other teacher. Jesus shows that He is the Word in the flesh. As religious scholars, chief priests, and elders challenge His authority, Jesus combats their claims and accusations with brilliant replies leaving them “confounded by His reply and couldn’t say anything in response” (Luke 20:26). As He overcomes the questions, Jesus turns to His disciples and proclaims:

Beware of the religious scholars. They like to parade around in long robes. They love being greeted in the marketplaces. They love taking the best seats in the synagogues. They adore being seated around the head table at banquets. But in their greed they rob widows of their houses and cover up their greed with long pretentious prayers. Their condemnation will be the worse because of their hypocrisy. (Luke 20:46-47)

Sound familiar?

Too often in this world we sanctify our worldly possessions, showboat our success, and thrive on the praise from others. Our Monday-Saturday lives reflect the greed of the religious scholars aforementioned, while our Sundays consist of the “pretentious prayers”- our masks, our disguises. Jesus warns us of this façade of “godliness” that we hold so near to our hearts. Christ warns that our hypocrisy will be our demise. There are times where we will be humble and modest, but isn’t it interesting how those times end up happening most when there are others around us: particularly people from our church around us? We as Christians are not perfect, but as we have all heard time after time, we are lukewarm Christians. Can we admit that everything we preach to others can be seen in our lives? If not, then Jesus is telling us now that it is time to change! In chapter 21 He warns of the end. Jesus tells us to be careful. It is not too late for us, but we have to be ready. We cannot escape. No one will know when the end will be, but when it happens, we shall know it is the work of God; “when the leaves break out of their buds, nobody has to tell you that summer is approaching; it’s obvious to you. It’s the same in the larger scheme of things” (Luke 21: 30-31). We are warned of false claims of the end, and these are claims that we have seen in our own lives. The year 2012 was believed to be the end of the world as thousands of people squandered in fear. For what? There were no signs of the end. Where were the signs that are clearly mentioned in the gospel? The earth will shake, robust flooding, cosmic destabilization, and amongst the chaos “they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and blazing glory” However, amidst this destruction Jesus tells us that we should not be afraid. But rather we should hold our heads high knowing that “liberation is fast approaching” (Luke 21: 26-28).

So I’ll leave you with this - we will not know when the end of time will be, and we cannot hope it will occur on our “good days”; avoid hypocrisy and show others that you are Christian through your actions AT ALL TIMES.

** I used a “The Voice” Bible so the scripture text may vary.

- Jonathan Cherian