on religious hypocrisy and authenitic community

Gospel of Luke 11
"While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. ³⁸The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. ³⁹Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ⁴⁰You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ⁴¹So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.
42 ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others. ⁴³Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honour in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the market-places. ⁴⁴Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.’"

Jesus was no lover of vain, empty religious practices.  Jesus was intolerant of hypocrisy, especially among religious people. They do what is expected of them publicly, but privately they are greedy and wicked.  They follow their religious rules in order to appear holy or better than others.  They go to church, but they have no compassion in their hearts.  They neglect justice and the love of God.  Jesus called them out for their hypocritical judgment, because they accused Jesus of abandoning right religious practices and habits.  Instead, Jesus practiced excessive mercy and radical forgiveness and selfless love.  He did this without the endorsement of the religious leadership.  He taught without their authority and consent.  He was more concerned about broken people than about broken rules.  He noticed that the religious system actually prevented people from encountering the God he knew as Father.  It actually replaced an authentic relationship with a living, speaking, acting God with a religious transaction---do these things and you will be blessed.  Fail to do them and you will be cursed.  The myth we still buy into today goes something like this:  If your life is hard, perhaps it is because you are not religious or faithful enough. If your life is good, it is because you are obeying God's will.  Suffering people may be faithful, but they are most likely in God's disfavor.  Doing what is right is necessary to have a good life. Blessed people prosper.  Cursed people suffer.   Jesus debunked this myth. A crucified man is supposed to be a cursed man, according to the Hebrew Scripture.  But he says the cross is the way of salvation. He says the poor are blessed. He says the sick and sinful belong to God. He says the vulnerable are our neighbors to whom we are called as servants.  We can see why religious hypocrisy causes so many people to reject Christianity and even God. 

Religious practices, including Sunday morning worship, can prevent us from living a God centered life.  Jesus implies that those who claim to have a relationship with God and have hatred for their neighbor do not really know God.  You can't claim to have an UP/DOWN relationship if you have no terrible OUT relationships.   We think that if we show up, are members of a church, pay our dues, and do the rituals then that satisfies God and insures us a place in God's care.  We can do our duty to God and never serve anyone else.  We can, in fact love God with our lips and hate our neighbors, especially those who are not like us.   

But, Jesus proposes an alternative to religious hypocrisy. For Jesus, the table was the place of radical inclusion, welcome, and encounter--where God is present in food and drink and human companionship.   He proposes an authentic life of love, mercy, and justice.  This takes place within the human heart first and extends outward through our actions and words.  Jesus shows us what it looks like to have an authentic relationship with God demonstrated in the ways we show love to other people. Jesus shows us authentic relational balance. It is costly.  It requires a lot of grace.  And he envisioned and established a community to practice it.  What if church was more like that and less like 1st century Pharisaic religion---a religion that drew very clear exclusionary lines between those who were in the club and those who were not?     

How have you experienced religious hypocrisy?  What about this alternative message appeals to you?    Who do you know that has been turned off by religious hypocrisy, exclusion, and bigotry?  How might you invite them to the table of grace?