Alas for you, Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites
There is hardly any other sin or sinful condition that upset Our Lord as hypocrisy. He was all mercy to many great sinners who showed contrition, or in whom he sensed the willingness to repent, even before they asked for forgiveness. He dined with Zacchaeus (Luke 10:1-10), and with Matthew (Luke 5:27-32), even though many thought this was scandalous. He defended the woman with a sinful reputation who wept at his feet (Luke 7:36-50). To the woman who was caught in adultery, he said that he did not condemn her either, but rather, that she goes and not sin anymore (John 8:1-11). To the repentant thief he promised paradise that very day (Luke 23:39-43). And he told all of us, that there would be greater rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner, than over 99 righteous (Luke 15:7). In contrast to those episodes, we hear the harsh words addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees these days.
We all appreciate having a good reputation. None of us enjoys having our name tarnished, especially when this happens in public. We can react with anger, even when we know that the wrong pointed out about us is true. One might say that we react with anger especially when we know it to be the truth. At the same time, most of us have areas in our life which we are not very proud about, which we would prefer to have hidden from the public. We have said or done things we should not have done or failed to do things we should have done. The attempt to hide the areas we are ashamed of is a form of hypocrisy. To that extent, we are also addressed by the words against the Pharisees we hear today.
In today’s gospel Jesus uses a very poignant image to describe hypocrisy. It is like white-washed tombs, with rotting flesh inside. You can also think of beautiful and expensive caskets we see at funerals, which must be covered in the ground to rot with their contents.
Rather than saying like the Doctor of the Law, that when you speak like that you insult us as well, we are invited today to look into ourselves and ask: in which areas of my life would the Lord say, “alas for you…”, and with his help strive to clean the inside of the cup.
