Accuse yourself of hypocrisy 

A Reflection for the Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Find today’s readings here.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus encounters a woman with some kind of injury that prevents her from standing up straight, a condition she apparently has endured for nearly two decades. Jesus calls out to the woman, tells her she has been set free from her infirmity and then lays his hands on her, “and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.”

But because Jesus performed this act of mercy on the Sabbath, a day of rest, the religious authorities told the assembled crowd that healings were to take place during the other six days of the week. 

“Hypocrites,” Jesus exclaims. If the religious leaders lead their animals to water on the sabbath, why can’t a woman be freed from the “bondage” of her physical and spiritual pain, he asks.

Jesus takes special aim at hypocrisy in this Gospel, in part because it damages both the hypocrite and their victims. 

When Pope Francis preached on hypocrisy in 2019, he stated bluntly that hypocrisy kills.

“On the outside you are perfect, strait-laced actually, with decorum, but inside you are something else,” Francis said. That’s no way to live because, he added, “hypocrisy always kills, sooner or later, it kills.”

It can be tempting to read in this Gospel passage a condemnation of hypocrites, of others who fail to live up to their own values, who seem so prevalent in our politics, our church and our society. But Francis urges us instead to consider how Jesus’ words might apply to us. Where are we hypocritical and how do we cure the disease of hypocrisy?

“We have to learn to accuse ourselves, ‘I did this, I think this way, badly. I am envious. I want to destroy that one,’” he said. We need to bring this reality to God, following a thorough examination of what we hold in our hearts and how that affects how we act. 

Before others accuse us, we must accuse ourselves of hypocrisy, and adjust our actions so that they live up to our ideals. Ultimately, as Christians, we will always fail in living out the Gospel perfectly. That is to be expected. But by looking closely at where our lives diverge from the teachings of Jesus, we might be better able to distance ourselves from charges of hypocrisy, bringing life to ourselves and those with whom we interact. S. Lewis, we can answer Paul’s question that he, of course, already answers for us with an expression of thanks: “Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

• Facebook
• X
• Mail