(Twenty-ninth Sunday of the Year (A): This homily was given on October 22,
2023 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Isaiah 45:1, 4-6; Psalm 96:1-10; 1
Thessalonians 1:1-5; Matthew 22:15-21.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Twenty-ninth Sunday 2023]
Hypocrisy can be a tool—a very useful and effective tool—to
get what you want, when what you want is evil.
We see a classic example of this in today’s gospel story of Jesus’
confrontation with the Pharisees and the Herodians. But before I get into that, let me make it
clear to you what I mean when I use the word “hypocrisy.” I think if you asked a large number of people
on the street the question, “What is hypocrisy?” most would say that hypocrisy
is when you don’t practice what you preach.
But that’s wrong!—although it is true that most if not all
hypocrites don’t practice what they preach.
But that’s not the proper meaning of the term. The English word hypocrisy comes from a Greek
word that means “to play a part” (like an actor would in a show) or “to
pretend”. Which means that hypocrisy,
properly speaking, is not when you don’t practice what you preach, it’s when
you don’t BELIEVE what you preach!
A hypocrite puts on a mask when it comes to what he really
thinks, when it comes to what he really believes. He says one thing with his mouth, but
believes something very different in his heart.
Which brings us to today’s gospel reading from Matthew
22. Here Jesus is challenged by a group
of Pharisees and Herodians. This, in and
of itself, is noteworthy, because these two groups normally did not like each
other or agree with each other. For
example, the Herodians had a positive view of the Romans who were occupying
their country, whereas the Pharisees did not.
And this was at the root of their attempt to trip Jesus up with their
question about taxes. If Jesus had said
it was unlawful to pay taxes to the Romans, the Herodians would have told that
to the Roman authorities and in all likelihood our Lord would have been
arrested; whereas if Jesus had said it was lawful to pay, the Pharisees would
have denounced him to the people, most of whom did not like the Romans and
wanted them out of their country.
But it’s what they said to Jesus before they asked their
question that revealed their hypocrisy.
They said, “Teacher, we know you are a truthful man and that you teach
the way of God in accordance with the truth.”
Now the Bible doesn’t tell us everything that happened 2,000
years ago when this event took place historically, but we can certainly
speculate on the matter. And so, I wonder: when the Pharisees and Herodians
said this to Jesus—when they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are a truthful
man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth”—did our
Lord laugh in their faces? He could
have—because he knew they didn’t believe a word of what had just come out of
their mouths! These, after all, were the very same guys who had been telling the
people, “This Jesus casts out demons with the help of Beelzebul the prince of
demons.” These were the same guys who were plotting our Lord’s death because
they thought he was a blasphemer. And
that’s why our Lord calls them hypocrites here.
If they said what they really believed, they would have told our Lord,
“Teacher, we know you are a liar and that you teach the way of the devil in
accordance with his lies and deceptions.”
Because that’s what they really thought.
I said at the beginning that hypocrisy can be a tool—a very
useful and effective tool—to get what you want, when what you want is evil. The Pharisees and Herodians used it in an
attempt to discredit Jesus and perhaps even get him arrested. That was the evil they were seeking. Thankfully they failed, and the evil they
desired never became a reality.
But it doesn’t always happen that way. Some of our leaders in this country, for
example, who identify themselves as “devout Catholics” do everything in their
power to promote practices that Jesus Christ, through his Church,
condemns. It starts with abortion, but
unfortunately, with some, it doesn’t end there.
With some, it involves a whole host of issues.
That’s hypocrisy—pure and simple. You say your Catholic, but you really don’t
believe in Catholicism because you reject basic, fundamental moral teachings of
the Church.
But it goes far beyond the religious dimension of life;
hypocrisy can be a problem regarding many things. For example, I’m reading a book right now by
Dr. Bill Donahue of the Catholic League called “War on Virtue”. It’s about the cultural and moral decay
that’s currently taking place in our country and which has been going on now
for several decades.
At one point in the book Dr. Donahue talks about an
invitation he received in the late 1990s to a big conference in California—a
conference for people in the entertainment industry. Here’s what he wrote:
In the late 1990s, David Horowitz invited me to attend a huge conference in California—with actors, producers, and directors—that addressed various controversial issues that were brewing in Hollywood. After listening to many of the speakers, I got a chance to say a few words. After I spoke, the man sitting next to me on the platform turned to me and said, “They’re going to have to get you extra security to escort you out of here.”
What did I say that was so controversial? I told the crowd they were a bunch of phonies. One after another, I said, you came to the microphone to tell us that you don’t allow your children to watch the television shows that you make. No, you said, your children watch Nickelodeon. I asked, “So whose children are your shows good for?” They knew exactly what I meant. There was dead silence.
No doubt those actors, producers and directors would have
told you that their work was of the highest quality, but that’s not what they
actually believed. If they believed that
their programs were of the highest quality, they would certainly have allowed
their own children to watch them. But
they did not.
That’s hypocrisy. Remember,
hypocrisy is not when you fail to practice what you preach. (We all do that. We all fail in various ways to live the faith—to
practice the faith—that we profess.
That’s why we have the sacrament of Reconciliation. Praise God!)
Hypocrisy occurs when you don’t actually believe what you
profess. May the Lord help us to avoid
all hypocrisy in our own lives, and may he change the hearts and minds and
attitudes of those who, like the Pharisees and the Herodians, have fallen into
it, and who are currently using their hypocrisy as a tool for evil. May these
men and women finally come to believe—and to live—the full truth of the Gospel. Amen.