Tag: Hypocrisy

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Religious Entrapment.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully. Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” Jesus saw through their hypocrisy and said, “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Snakes and vipers are the slipperiest serpents in the animal kingdom. They are silent and smooth in movement and hissper so subtly in the garden. It reminds me of Kaa, the snake character, in Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 anthology collection, The Jungle Book, with his mystical powers of hypnosis. Or Nagini, the snake who was always at Voldemort’s side. Mark’s gospel lets us know right up front, this scene was a setup.

The religious leaders sent Pharisees AND supporters of Herod. No matter how Jesus responded to the cleaver question, it would be captured by eye witnesses and sent out through the social media of ancient days – word of mouth! But first they had to butter-up Jesus real good, trying to distract him from the nearly invisible snare. “We know how honest you are,” interpretation – we know you can’t lie. We also know you “do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances,” – interpretation – you are not influenced by others and can’t be fooled (even though they were trying to do so even then). And, “we know you are a “alétheia,” a truth teller,” – interpretation – you are morally bound by God’s character.

So… standing there with the religious and secular leaders salivating with their own diabolical deception, they deliver the inescapable question. “Is it “exesti,” It is lawful or permitted to pay “kensos,” taxes or tribute to Caesar? Is it proper to “didómi” give or grant this? I wonder how long Jesus paused before he answered? It must have seemed like a timeless, slow-motioned moment for the eager ears of these wise guys!

Mark tells us that Jesus saw through their “hupokrisis,” hypocrisy, an interesting theatre word used in those days by the actors in a play. It comes from the idea of filling in the cracks of statues with colored wax, thus giving the appearance of wholeness, without fault or blemishes. So to be a hypocrite was to be disingenuous, fake, pretending to have no flaws. Oh, these religious leaders had cracks and crevasses in their hearts – that’s for sure!

Jesus famously retorted with his own question, “WHY?” But then he did answer them by using an object lesson. “Does anyone have a denarius handy?” A denarius, a small Roman coin, used by most of the people in the city. Jesus didn’t have or carry any coins, Roman or Jewish (shekel). Someone handed Jesus a coin while the trappers waited in puzzled anticipation.

Great, “whose likeness and inscription – whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied.” Well then, Jesus implied, you have your answer don’t you? Since that coin clearly belongs to the one whose picture and title are stamped on it – give it back to him. However, since we all bear the image of another stamped on our human hearts, we should therefore give ourselves back to God because we belong to him! Right?

Prayer

​Dad,
We are such an odd bunch, us and our unique peculiarities. We play our games. We challenge our own creator. We question goodness, true justice and love – thinking we can certainly do better! If it weren’t so sad, I’d have to say we’ve got to be kidding. We may not be trying to entrap Jesus specifically, but we are still working hard to skirt your will, your way. Since we bear your imprint, your image, why are we trying so hard to get away from you? I’m sorry for our lackluster faith and pushing the boundaries of your grace. Amen.

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Am I a fungus infected sin activist?

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” Luke‬ ‭12:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Crowds as thick as a rock concert in Central Park. Did I ever notice that Jesus was looking over the throngs of people when he delivered this famous passage? No. He sees thousands out there and says, watch out for “leaven infection.” Sure, leaven is yeast as New Living Translation says, but I can’t use that word coupled with infection!

Yeasts are single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom! YIKES 🤢. Let’s just stick to its properties in food.

Yeast is used in baking as a leavening agent, where it converts the food/fermentable sugars present in dough into the gas carbon dioxide. This causes the dough to expand or rise as gas forms pockets or bubbles. When the dough is baked, the yeast dies and the air pockets “set”, giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture. Yeast also rapidly reproduces, effectively permeating every cell of the dough.

Why was yeast (leaven) associated with sin? First, on a practical level, the Israelites had to be ready to leave Egypt at a moment’s notice and thus they couldn’t wait for the dough to rise. Second, leaven in the Bible is symbolic of sin and deceit. Leaven, a picture of sin, makes the bread inflate. The visual is that sin makes one prideful and puffed-up. Plus, it only takes a very small amount of fermented dough to make new dough rise (Gal 5:9), thus the idea that fermentation implies a process of corruption. Yeast or leaven is NOT sin! It’s just an object lesson.

Jesus looks over this massive crowd and finds a few Pharisees among them. Effectively saying, “it only takes one” bad 🍎 to infect this entire crowd. The Pharisees message of weaponizing the Law of God to keep people from God is a deadly fungus that kills! Plus the fact that people that say they believe one thing but practice another are a hypocritical joke.

Yes, everyone at some point is a hypocrite, but no one should be an activist about it. Jesus warns – ALL SECRETS will be known! God will pull back the cover of darkness over all humankind and expose everything. I can’t, you can’t hide sin forever 😬. So what’s Jesus point? Well, the biggest one is don’t be a SIN ACTIVIST, publicly parading about proudly mocking God himself. You’d just be behaving like a fungus, socially infecting everyone around you. Two, the light of world, Jesus, will shine on every human heart and expose everything.

Prayer

Dad,
Whoa, I see what you did here with the Pharisees, religious leaders of the day. I understand that I could easily see you exposes their thoughts and deeds and just be happy for a bit of justice for all the misery they (and those like them today) have caused. But I know how this works. I also need to see myself. My heart. My deeds. And when I think of all the times I try to get away with sin by being sneaky, or covering up, leaving no bodies to be found – that I’ve “gotten away with it,” the Holy Spirit arrests me on the spot! I then confess, repent, and turn from my sin. I WANT my sin covered, not by darkness but by the blood of Jesus that cleans me and makes me whole!