3-10-25 - Hypocrites?

You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.

I’m not sure why the lectionary presents this passage from Luke’s Gospel for next Sunday; it’s short, not really a story, and somewhat inscrutable. (At my churches, we will start a Lenten series on Sabbath keeping…) But let’s see what gems we might mine from it. It begins with a warning to Jesus: At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you."

On the face of it, this would appear a benevolent act, to warn a man that he’s in trouble with the political powers. But let’s not forget who’s issuing this warning: the religious powers with whom Jesus has been publicly tangling. Are they looking to spare his life? Or to get him out of their way, so they no longer have to put up with his insults and skewering of their hypocrisies?

I rarely engage in word study and have forgotten what little Greek I acquired during seminary, but I read that the Greek word from which we get “hypocrite” means simply “actor, or one who plays a part.” Jesus frequently accused the Pharisees of proclaiming one thing and doing another, of acting the part of deeply holy men while they benefited from the charity of those they oppressed. If anyone might have wanted Jesus out of the way, it would have been this party. Did they take the act a step further, feigning concern?

From his response, it doesn’t appear that Jesus thought they had his best interests at heart. In replying, he manages to further inflame them. So now Jesus has enemies in the temple courts as well as in the palace. And maybe that was okay with him. He knew that as he continued his mission of deliverance and healing, going head to head with the source of evil and calling out injustice, he would rattle a lot of cages. He knew to put his trust only in his heavenly father and a few followers – and soon found he couldn’t even fully rely on the followers.

So why are we reading this in church on a Sunday? Perhaps as a reminder that when we’re truly about the work of proclaiming freedom for captives and justice for the oppressed, sight for the blind and new life for the dead, we’re going to make enemies. There are many forces invested in the status quo. Few are more hated than peace-makers - that's why so many are assassinated.

Of course, we still need to proceed with humility and discernment – too many false prophets have cited resistance to their message as proof of their rectitude. We know it’s not that simple… And yet, I want to ask this: If we’re not making anybody mad, are we really living the gospel?

© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.