Acting 101

“You hypocrites. You Lutherans are hypocrites.” That is a phrase that I have heard multiple times during the Lenten season from a particular man I had the chance of knowing. I think it was his mission to come and talk to me at, or around, Ash Wednesday because he would always come and talk to me about the ashes that we Lutherans put on our foreheads and and how we give things up for Lent to make us more pious. What was interesting about this man was that he knew scripture pretty well because he would reference passages from the Bible and he knew that we used the text from Matthew for our Ash Wednesday services about fasting, praying, and almsgiving. He liked to tell me that we were no better than the people Jesus was condemning in the very text we were reading and talking about.

He was always very passionate about it and for the few years that he came in and talked with me about it, I think he always used the same lines of argument with very little deviation. I, however, would try different tactics each time to try to teach him the meaning and significance behind the ashes and why we do it at this time of the church year. On the surface of his understanding I could completely understand what he was talking about. The text today talks about not looking dismal when fasting, and don’t make a loud or boisterous spectacle when you give money to the church or pray to God. And now, we Christians come and put ashes on our foreheads to show a sign of to whom we belong. A sign that anyone could see and know that we are his followers. In that sense some people, including this man view this act as being hypocritical.

“Don’t be like the hypocrites.” One of the things that fascinates me is the evolution of words. Words continue to exist but they change from their original form to mean something different. The word for hypocrite for instance originated as a word that was used to talk about actors. A hypocrite, or an actor, was a person who put on a mask and would then take on the persona of the person they were portraying in the play they were a part of. A good actor would be able to put on that mask and remove themselves from the world and would solely be that character. So if you were in a play and you were portraying the character Romeo from Romeo and Juliet (I know this didn’t exist in Jesus’ time) then you didn’t think about the next meal you were going to have or who you were going to meet up with after the show was over, or if you remembered to pay rent on time. You were Romeo. You existed as that person who loved Juliet with his whole life and being and would do anything to be with her, including taking his own life to do it. But when you are done with the show you then go back to being who you are. That is the original meaning of what it meant to be a hypocrite.

So when Jesus invites us to not be like the hypocrites in today’s text I would urge us to use this idea of a hypocrite and not so much our modern definition. You see there were people in Jesus time, primarily the Pharisees, who would fast more often than they needed to based on their religious festivals. The Pharisees would fast twice a week and some people who felt more pious would fast more often. The problem was that they would put on this mask and become this pious person who refused to eat for their faith, but while on the fast they refused to give food to the people who were poor and hungry and could not afford a next meal. They also did these things in public places which got them the audience that an actor wanted. They did not do it necessarily for their faith, but more so that people could see their piety. So that people could see what good actors they were. An actor always needs an audience or there is no point to putting on the mask and putting on the show.

In essence their lives outside of these acts did not match what they were doing every other day or hour of their lives. It was as if they were one person at one point in time and another when they did these acts. They became a pious person when the mask went on and they did not act according to their faith and God’s command when the mask came off.

This is what it means to be a hypocrite to Jesus. Today, Ash Wednesday, is not about going around town with our ashes on our heads to show people how pious we are, but to remind ourselves that we are simply here on this earth for a short time and that the life we have is a blessing from God. Having ashes on our foreheads isn’t about saying anything other than what we already are. We are people who do our best to live our lives, knowing that we are not perfect and that it is through a relationship with God that we are offered something more in this life and in the next life. Having ashes on our forehead and then receiving communion reminds us that of all the mishaps and mistakes we make in this short life we have we know that we need something greater than ourselves. Something more than what we can do on our own. As you leave this place today, remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, AND because of God you shall have eternal life through Jesus Christ our savior and Lord.

Amen.