Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 23, 27-32
‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your ancestors.
Characteristics of hypocrisy
1) They show something they are not. This happens when you care a lot about what people will say and whether people like you or not. You care a lot about whether you influence others or not. This leads you to a tremendous state of susceptibility because you put yourself at the center of the world and everything has to revolve around you. This makes you appear one way with others, but inside you have a tremendous emptiness.
2) Whitewashed tombs. A hypocrite falls into criticism and subsequent destruction of any person who may be a threat to his image. He sees his brother as a competition and not as a friend. He even tries to become friends with that person who can beat him in something, just to manipulate him and keep the situation under control.
3) Killing. We kill that image of God in us and in others, because we use the same God in our hypocrisy, believing that we are the owners of the truth and judging who enters and who does not. We even run away from people who seek to meet Christ, because we ourselves place obstacles in their way, out of envy or zeal.
Let us put in the hands of God, our Father so as not to fall into hypocrisy.
God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And always remember that Heaven is our goal.
