Ash Wednesday Meditation

Ash Wednesday Meditation

                Hypocrites.  That is what Jesus called them.  When we say that word, “hypocrite,” it calls to mind many notions.  It conjures up images of people who say one thing and do another, of a selfish person playing two sides of the same coin.  In democratic elections I’m sorry to say we see no end of such people, of candidates who act one way in front of people and totally different when around each other.           But that isn’t the kind of hypocrite we are talking about today.  You see words tend to change meaning over time.  Just as gay used to mean happy and the prefix “anti” as in the words anti-American and Anti-Christ, the prefix was used to not to describe something opposite but something fake.  When John talks about anti-christs in his revelation he is talking about taking on a fake Christs, a cheap imitation, a faux Messiah instead of the real deal.  And just as those words have changed over time so the word hypocrite has changed.  A hypocrite, you see, was what they called the actors in one of those Greek tragedies everyone has heard so much about.  It was a technical name referring to a specific kind of profession, a profession that most certainly was less than known for its ethics and piety.

                It is this meaning of the word that gets lost, and yet is so essential to understanding what Jesus is doing in our gospel text. "Beware of rehearsing your piety before others in order to be seen by them;” Jesus says, “for then you have no payment from your Father in heaven. Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you.  As the Greek actors do in celebrating the Greek god Dionysius, so do our own Pharisees in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be applauded. Truly I tell you, they have received their payment.  But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your alms may be done behind the scenes; and your Father who sees in secret will give you your wages.  And whenever you pray, do not be like those theatre actors; They love to turn their synagogues into stages, their street corners into amphitheatres, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their payment.  But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door as your ancestor Nehemiah did and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like those who only act like Jews do, for they disfigure their faces as stage makeup so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, appear to all the world like the one going to the play and not the one performing it so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
                God, you see, is the theatre manager in this parable, and knows everything that goes on behind the scenes, and it is important to note that in Greek theatre all the actors were unpaid.  There was no such thing as professional acting back then, the audience’s love and adoration was indeed their payment.  Only those who actively work for the manager will get paid, but all their work will be done where no one else can see, quite literally off stage and behind the scenes.

                And so this story’s full impact in the first century might be felt.  Jesus, you see, is not being so nice to the religious establishment of his day.  Those that parade around making a show of God and piety are less than praiseworthy in his sight.  You see that Pharisee, that hypocrite, that supposed religious elite.  He only plays at being a Jew and then only when he is onstage.  He announces his performance with trumpets, he gives alms with drama, he rehearses his prayers like lines in a play, and even puts on costumes and make-up to let the world know that he’s fasting.  Like any actor, however, you will find the person and the part they play to be two very different things.  The fact is he plays at being a righteous Jew when you are looking, but when you are not he is anything but.  However, ladies and gentlemen, since we have turned God’s religion into little more than an allegory for theatre,” Jesus says, “then let us at least be honest and bring the allegory to its only possible conclusion.  These people perform all these deeds to gain your applause, and yet you all know very well that in theatre the applause is the only thing the theatre owner allows them to keep.  Do not be actors, but be workers behind the scenes.  That is who gets paid when the curtain comes to a close.

                 Ladies and Gentlemen, in a country that praises its actors, whose celebrities are paid more than some national governments, this gospel story should be enough to give any American pause.  To be American is to inevitably have Hollywood in your soul.  Everything is entertainment, everything a play.  What does it say about a nation and a culture when we get our heroes and role-models from works of fiction, a story written and filmed for no other purpose than its authors knows exactly what we will buy?  The question that I see that needs to be asked is this, am I truly a Christian or, in a culture of Hypocrites both old and new, have I just learned to act like one?

                The fact is we as Americans do so much to act like the Church.  Yes we’ll give to people on the street, the person that happened to catch our eye, the person who found ways to make me feel guilty and so I gave them money to make me feel better, but give to an organization?  Give to a shelter that helps dozens if not hundreds?  Do something that actually fights poverty rather than relieve my ego for the moment, no we don’t do that.  Do I feel concerned for the wounded, will I go on about a pet charity, will I tell people how terrible I feel over this or that but will I actually do something about it, especially when no one is looking?  No very often we don’t.

                The reality is, ladies and gentlemen, we need to put our money where our mouths are.  Sure we talk a good game, but when the time comes to actually do what we say…  You see, ladies and gentlemen, as a country we became anti-Christian, falsely Christian, a cheap imitation meant only to fool those who didn’t know any better.  The thing is, God knows better, and it is no defense simply to act faithful.  We must be faithful.  Now you say to me, how can anybody possibly live up to this?  How can anybody fit these impossible standards of being what we are truly supposed to be?  Well, I am here to give you the good news.  This is Ash Wednesday.  And while we cannot live perfect lives we can be sorry when we don’t.  We cannot help but make mistakes on every level, both practically, morally and spiritually, but I do have the ability to repent of them.  And while we as Christians cannot and will not live perfect lives we can resolve to live better ones.  Let us repent.  Let us take off the costumes and the masks we put on before others and before God, they fool so very few these days.  Let us be who we are, ugly and unseemly as we are, and live lives of repentance so God can turn us into something better.  Amen