Hypocrites

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank ourt of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”

Matthew 7:4-5

A few weeks ago while speaking to my pastor, I told him about a time in our former church when a question was asked about hypocrites in church. It was asked and ignored only to be brought up again later in a smaller group setting. Seeing the discomfort of the small group leader, he very much did not want to answer the question, I joked that once all the other sinners had taken their seats there was still room, so we let the hypocrites in. Our new pastor, Ryan and I laughed about that for a minute before he said, “But Tricia, wouldn't our churches be empty if there weren't any hypocrites? Aren't we all guilty of hypocrisy at some point?” Yes, Pastor Ryan, I believe we are.

I was reminded of that conversation while pulling out some pictures to share with my daughter. One picture is of her precious angel Harper, holding her new baby doll. The doll still has plastic on it's head and in the picture, Harper is holding the baby, lovingly cradling it in her arms. The picture was taken on Christmas, the day Harper, who is 2 and a half years old, decided that the Virgin Mary was a bad mommy. She was playing with the Nativity scene in our front yard and when she tried to place the baby Jesus in his mother's arms, it didn't work. They are plastic figures, made in such a way that you can't manipulate their posture. “Hers a bad mom!” She announced to all of us. “Her won't hold her baby.” Now, think about the picture..... at least Mary didn't put a plastic bag on her baby's head!

Aren't we all guilty of that kind of hypocrisy? I say I would never do something and judge a person I see doing it. I might turn to my daughter, or a friend and say, “Who does that?” in a voice dripping with disdain, only to turn around and do something worse.

The problem is we don't see our own actions in the same light as we see other people's choices and actions. We don't know their back story. We see an isolated incident and we judge. We go to our church and question the practices of the church down the street, all the while they are questioning ours.

My children grew very tired of hearing the speck and plank Scripture when they were young but I've already heard at least one of them use it with my grandchildren. We quote it because it is so true. Mind your own business!

Why do we have hypocrites in church? Because without us, as Pastor Ryan pointed out, the churches would be empty. We should all strive for authenticity, for sincerity and certainly for truth but as in all things we will miss the mark. In those moments when we can recognize the plank in our own eye, it's so wonderful to know that we can rely on grace and keep walking in faith.