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A Defense of Hypocrisy, Part Two (Jesus' Defense)

by James Barringer  
11/16/2010 / Christian Apologetics

A few months ago, I wrote an article defending hypocrisy. My main point was that, if you're not perfect and you strive for perfection, hypocrisy is inevitable, and the only remedy is either to be perfect (impossible) or to stop striving for perfection (unacceptable). The mere presence of hypocrisy in a person's life merely means that they're human and have high standards. My goal was not to excuse every instance of hypocrisy ever committed by Christians, as one commenter mistakenly thought, but just to get people to realize that the thing itself is not innately bad.

There's substantial irony in the fact that Jesus, who is widely believed to have invented the word "hypocrite," and spent most of his ministry accusing contemporary religious leaders of that very thing, is now the one whose church is most closely associated with the word. So how would Jesus react to those playactors? The answer, taken from Matthew 17 and 23, tells us exactly how we should respond to the presence of hypocrisy in our own churches or friendships.

Quick show of hands - how many of you know someone who doesn't go to church anymore because of the presence of hypocrites? Surely Jesus would understand that attitude, wouldn't he; after all, wasn't he just as frustrated with the playactors of his day? Well, yes - and no. In Matthew 17, some people asked Jesus if his disciples were planning on paying the temple tax, the half-shekel paid by every Jew age twenty and over, for the maintenance of the temple. Keep in mind, this is the same temple that Jesus later cleared out with a handmade whip, raging about how it was a den of thieves. You might think he'd tell the tax collector to get stuffed, that he wasn't going to support such a corrupt and hypocritical establishment.

Yet Jesus did the opposite. He had Peter pay the tax. (Incidentally, Peter only paid the tax for two people, a single shekel, meaning that the rest of Jesus' apostles were probably under age 20.) Even though the perversion of the local church nauseated him, he had his apostles support it financially. What does this mean for the dechurched person who is similarly nauseated by what he saw during his time in the pews?

It means that hypocrisy is an excuse. God commands us to practice Christian fellowship and to donate money, a full 10% tithe, to our local church, even when that church quite frankly doesn't deserve it. The church of Jesus' day certainly didn't deserve it, but cutting the legs out from under that church was not the answer either. Despite what the man who has been wounded by church might say, a church full of hypocrites is better than no church at all. Withdrawing attendance or financial support for that reason is a weak excuse. It gets even weaker when you consider that in almost every city in North America, there are multiple churches, sometimes dozens or a hundred. If a man stays away from all of them because he was hurt in one, you can begin to see that he's not practicing the best logic. You don't quit eating out at every restaurant after getting heartburn from one Waffle House; you find a better restaurant and keep doing what you were doing.

But Jesus really hated hypocrites, right? There's a whole passage in Matthew 23 where he pronounces seven woes on the Pharisees, calling them hypocrites in six of the seven. Yet look how Jesus prefaces this rant: "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do.'" Wait, what? Listen to the Pharisees and obey everything they say?

Well, yes. The Pharisees were, until Pentecost when the church was inaugurated, still the legitimate spiritual leaders of the day. Even though they had made a complete mess of the Old Testament law, even though they had nullified God's commandments in the name of their own tradition, they were still in a position of authority and respect, so Jesus ordered his followers to give them the authority and respect their position (not their conduct) deserved. The Pharisees' sins didn't make it okay for his followers to commit their own sins: the judging, disrespect, and other attitudes that are incompatible with following Jesus. If we're stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to choose between respecting hypocrites or nurturing sinful attitudes, Jesus would rather have us respect the hypocrites. Yikes.

Because, honestly, ignoring a hypocrite is a judgment call. At some point, there's no way to get around the fact that saying "He's a hypocrite" is judging. You have to look at a person's speech, look at a person's actions, and unilaterally declare that because the two don't match up, that person is a hypocrite. That's the good kind of judging, the kind that simply means "observing the truth," like Jesus was saying when he commanded his disciples, "Judge with right judgment" (John 7:24). Yes, in case you were wondering, Jesus ordered his disciples to judge people.

It's the second kind of judgment that we don't have the freedom to do: the kind that involves saying, "Because you're a hypocrite, I have the right to treat you differently." That kind of judging, presuming to mete out consequences based on a person's behavior, no one has the freedom to do, and that's the kind of judgment he was condemning in John 8:1-11. When the Pharisees caught a woman in adultery, he didn't condemn them for correctly labeling her an adulteress. That part was true; Jesus had (and has) no problem with calling a sin a sin. He condemned them because they wanted to be the ones to hand out the consequences, and he told them no way. One can only assume he would say the same thing to those who harbor bitterness or resentment toward the church because of hypocrisy, who presume to treat Christians differently because they feel all Christians are hypocrites. The problem is not when someone labels us as hypocrites (as I established in part 1, if we're doing our faith right, that statement will be true about all of us). It's when they think that gives them the right to treat us differently. That's the kind of judging that Jesus condemned.

So what would Jesus say about accusations of hypocrisy in the church? Based on his teaching to his disciples, he would say that even though they're hypocrites, they're better than nothing, so you need to keep supporting them not just with your attendance but with your money as well (Matthew 17). If their hypocrisy really nauseates you, wade in and change it from the inside. If your pastor, Sunday school teacher, mentor, or anyone else in leadership is a hypocrite, that doesn't free you from your obligation to obey their teachings (Matthew 23). Chew the meat and spit out the bones. Be the Christian they talk about being. Show them it's possible. Maybe your example will be what turns them around. The one thing Jesus never gave anybody the freedom to do is turn around and walk out on the church because of hypocrisy within the walls.

It really shocked me deeply to see Jesus supporting, verbally and financially, a broken system like the one propped up by the Pharisees. But really, I guess it's to be expected. Jesus came preaching love, and it's hard to imagine how somebody (somebody who wasn't Jesus, anyway) could love the Pharisees unconditionally while simultaneously judging them for being hypocrites. If we have to choose between love and judgment, God is going to have us pick love every time, and if that means not judging hypocrites, even if it means tolerating and obeying them, so be it. Just when I think I've got Jesus figured out, he goes and surprises me again, and I hope he keeps doing it.

Jim Barringer is a 38-year-old writer, musician, and teacher. More of his work can be found at facebook.com/jmbarringer. This work may be reprinted for any purpose so long as this bio and statement of copyright is included.

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