{"id":765,"date":"2015-09-17T12:25:09","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T17:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=765"},"modified":"2015-09-22T12:29:26","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T17:29:26","slug":"recognizing-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=765","title":{"rendered":"Recognizing Hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time<\/h2>\n

1 Tim 4: 12-16; Luke 7: 36-50<\/h2>\n

Dc. Larry Brockman<\/h2>\n

Hypocrisy!\u00a0 The world of today is filled with hypocrites- people who say one thing but act another way.\u00a0 Both of our readings today expose hypocrisy for what it is<\/p>\n

In the first reading, Timothy, who is a young disciple of St. Paul, writes this letter because some of the folks he evangelized have been influenced by older and self-proclaimed \u201cwiser\u201d teachers.\u00a0 These older teachers were teaching based on the old law, the Mosaic Law, in the tradition of the Pharisees.\u00a0 Their emphasis was on meeting the letter of the law.\u00a0 And their expertise was knowledge of its details.\u00a0 But Timothy had left the community with the Christian legacy of a new law.\u00a0 He says it about as well as one can say it.\u00a0 \u201cSet an example for those who believe in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.\u201d\u00a0 Yes indeed, Timothy, not the elders, had it right.\u00a0 Because the thing that speaks loudest is the way the teacher behaves, not what he says.<\/p>\n

There is a similar message in the Gospel.\u00a0 The Pharisees, Simon in today\u2019s Gospel story included, held themselves above the rest of mankind because they were experts in keeping the letter of the Mosaic Law.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t understand what real conversion of heart was.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t recognize that real conversion was not the ever increasing ability to conform in external behavior; but rather converting in internal attitude, by making a basic change in their behavior which we call repentance.<\/p>\n

You see, the sinful woman in the Gospel repented of her sinfulness by faith in what she heard Jesus preach and by his example.\u00a0 She was so uplifted by that feeling in her heart, the fact that she was forgiven and could start anew, that she was brimming full of love.\u00a0 And as a consequence of her conversion of the heart, she was moved to show that love in the public display we hear about today.\u00a0 It is easy to see how her Faith saved her, because she was living a new life now because she was not rejected for her sin, but rather changed by the love showed her by Jesus.<\/p>\n

Notice that Jesus calls out the Pharisee for the way he treated him, his honored guest.\u00a0 Indeed, the Pharisee was anything but cordial.\u00a0 He may have been an expert knowledge of the law; but he certainly didn\u2019t know how to apply it with \u201cspeech, conduct, love, faith and purity\u201d.\u00a0 Jesus actions and demeanor were in stark contrast to that of the Pharisees.\u00a0 And so was the power of his example to convert others.<\/p>\n

This lesson is something all of us need to learn in today\u2019s world because all of us are constantly exposed to someone whose sinfulness we reject; but in so rejecting it, we reject, even ostracize the sinner as well.\u00a0 We capture the hearts and minds of people not by beating them over the head with the law they have broken, but by \u201cspeech, conduct, love, faith and purity\u201d.\u00a0 I think that is what Pope Francis is trying to do with the changes he is making in dealing with folks who have second marriages or have had abortions.<\/p>\n

Forgiveness, mercy, and love are God\u2019s gifts to sinners.\u00a0 All of us are sinners.\u00a0 And there is room in our Church for everyone who repents of their sins and wants reconciliation.\u00a0 There certainly was room in Jesus\u2019 view for the woman in the Gospel story.<\/p>\n

All of us have an influence on the people around us whether we realize it or not.\u00a0 And all of the people around us are sinners in one way or another.\u00a0 Rather than ostracize those who are sinners in an air in which we project self-righteousness, we need to woo them by \u201cspeech, conduct, love, faith and purity\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time 1 Tim 4: 12-16; Luke 7: 36-50 Dc. Larry Brockman Hypocrisy!\u00a0 The world of today is filled with hypocrites- people who say one thing but act another way.\u00a0 Both of our readings today expose hypocrisy for what it is In the first reading, Timothy, who is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[367],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":766,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions\/766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}