I’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount, and have especially noticed the severe words Jesus Christ has for hypocrites. A hypocrite is one who says one thing but does another.
In one of the commentaries I read, the author said the word hypocrite means “stage actor.” Wow! I thought. That really brings meaning to the term.
Stage actor!
The word hypocrite is not one many people use in everyday vocabulary, so might feel remote to one’s experience when heard. But when the phrase stage actor is substituted, it can hit home rapidly.
I pondered different ways people put on a show but think contrari-wise.
For instance, have you ever been cordial and pleasant to someone, but entertained suggestions like, “This person is low-life?”
That’s stage acting, hypocrisy.
Or, have you ever told yourself you would pray about a problem tomorrow, and then not pray about it tomorrow? That’s stage acting. You make a show of right intent, but don’t follow through.
Or, have you ever thought, “I’m going to do something special for my wife this weekend,” and then put it off to the next weekend, and the next, and the next…. That’s stage acting. Voicing good intent, but not following through.
Have you ever told someone they did a really good job but complained internally about how poor they did? That’s stage acting, hypocrisy. There is a lack of sincerity.
And the list seems to go on…
Stage acting. Hypocrisy. One and the same thing.
An actor steps into the role of someone else, acts out the life and thoughts of another, and when they finish their show they default back to their native self. This is what a hypocrite does. They step into the role of someone they are not, put on a show, and when the play is done, revert back to their native inclinations and patterns of behavior.
So, what’s our salvation from the depravity of hypocrisy? Live true to the integrity of God’s child.
God’s child is not a hypocrite, a stage actor or a show. God’s child is honest, sincere, true, faithful, and pure through and through. God’s child does what he says and says what he does. There is total congruency in thought, word and action.
This is a high ideal to demonstrate, but the only one that gets us into heaven. Jesus had this figured out over 2000 years ago. And we can get it straight today!
Enjoy living a congruent life today… No more stage acting.
This is most definitely a high idea to demonstrate, and one to think about.
I know there are times when I should be kinder to some one, but there are just some people who are difficult. So instead of being unkind, I avoid, or restrict interactions, which I have been told is being mean. Hence my dilemma.
I know there is a popular saying about ‘fake it until you make it’, which sounds like being a stage actor. How do I avoid doing this, when my present understanding and demonstration of Christian Science is not at the point where I can be kind to every one, no matter who they are or what the circumstance is?
I want to do right, but until my head & heart agree, it feels like being a hypocrite, a stage actor, when I am around certain people. I haven’t gotten to the point where ‘in Science he beheld the perfect man’.
Thanks for your perspective.
Oh yes, you and many others struggle with the same dilemma! My solution is to find good in everyone. Yes, some people seem more difficult to deal with than others, but they are children of God too, just like me. It would be pompous and self-righteous to believe I am better than another, for whatever reason. So, increased humility is needed to see that good. And that perhaps is the lesson…the need for more humility.
Pride and ego can’t find the good in another because they are typically stuck-up on themselves. Self-love is like blinders on one’s eyes.
It also helps me to understand that I do not have to love a mortal, but are required to love the true idea of God–the real man of God’s creating. Love just loves like the sun shines. The sun shines on the good and the evil, Jesus reminded us. True love shines on the good and the evil too. The goal of a Christian is to live true love–love that is impartial, universal, unconditional. The more we strive to live Love and be Love’s expression, the easier it is to find good in others, value it, appreciate it, and acknowledge it openly.
Hope that helps!
Yeah, mea culpa! I’ve allowed some people to push my buttons. But I see a way out of that — get rid of the buttons.
Congruence… I like that word Evan, particularly the way it Spiritually reverberates. I’ve got to ponder (and accept and act on) that some more, how an Infinite number of Good things, including myself and others, all reverberate congruently to form true reality. — dom in newbury
Evan, thanks for the blog on this topic, and everyone else thanks for your comments! I have a B.A. in theater and loved your clear examples of stage acting as it relates to hypocrisy, along with other unpleasant thoughts and how we can strive to rise above this type of thinking/acting.
~Teri
hmmm. my child’s teacher’s new boyfriend is the still-married dad of one of a younger student. Can i see good in the teacher? yes. do i need to tell her I think this is wrong? I’m thinking yes. This post makes me wonder.