HYPOCRITES– BLIND SPOT
“Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering? This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?”
Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their two faces. Jesus calls them “hypocrites.” They are “actors,” and their words and actions are not the same. Literally, a hypocrite means “one who wears a mask,” that is, someone who pretends to be what he is not.
Every good prophet must confront the Pharisees of his time. The prophet Isaiah condemned the hypocrisy of his day: “The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men’” (Isaiah 29:13).
John the Baptist refused to give hypocrites a pass, telling them to produce “fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:8).
Jesus took an equally staunch stand against hypocrites, and he calls them “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (Matthew 7:15), “whitewashed tombs” (Matthew 23:27), “snakes,” and “brood of vipers” (Matthew 23:33).
A hypocrite looks righteous on the outside, but it is a façade. True righteousness comes from the inner transformation of the Holy Spirit, not an external conformity to a set of rules (Matthew 23:5; 2 Corinthians 3:8). Jesus pointed out that “justice, mercy, and faithfulness” are more important than pursuing perfection-based laws.
You and I are called to strive for holiness (1 Peter 1:16). We are reminded not to be hypocrites. We are to “hate what is evil” and “cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). We are to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.
We must guide against self-righteousness and see things in the eyes of God (removed) with charity. In the first reading, Saint Paul tells us, “Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,” and that we should “Be imitators of God.” The Responsorial psalm repeated the same message, “Behave like God as his very dear children.”
Dear friends, deep down, in our private moments, we may be scared and humbled by the potential for blind spots. We live our lives through a lens, set of rules, worldviews, and convictions, which all along may be wrong. We have moments in our lives when God mercifully showed us our blind spot. Don’t we? You may even wonder how can I be blind? Jesus is kind not to leave us in our error. Our Lord is kind to expose our darkness. Sometimes Jesus challenges the crowds because of their unbelief. He even called them an evil generation. In our first reading today, Jesus called the religious leaders “hypocrites” because of their hypocritical thinking and way of life. What will Jesus call me today? What will he call you? Let’s pray and invite Jesus to speak to us and change us.
Have a wonderful week
