Tempting Hypocrisy

Jesus leveled some of his most severe criticism against hypocrisy. The Pharisees, who presented themselves as guardians of the law of God, had actually supplanted the law by layering on top of it their own interpretation, which, though at times incredibly rigorous, resulted in the real law being obscured. Ironically, their scrupulosity allowed them to neglect the demands of the actual law, which is to love God with all of one’s being and the neighbor as oneself. It’s much easier to spend time assiduously setting aside tithes of all of one’s herbs than to take seriously the divine command to love. But hypocrisy was not just a problem for the Pharisees. It also threatened Jesus’ disciples. He told them to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”. This suggests that hypocrisy can stealthily permeate a people as leaven permeates dough, and remains, therefore, something against which the church needs to be on guard.