The smell of hypocrisy

Tuesday, August 26, 2014
21st Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
2 Thes 2:1-3a, 14-17
Gospel: Matthew 23:23-26

Jesus said, “Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You do not forget the mint, anise and cumin seeds when you pay the tenth of everything, but then you forget what is most fundamental in the Law: justice, mercy and faith. These you must practice, without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a mosquito, but swallow a camel.
“Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You fill the plate and the cup with theft and violence, and then pronounce a blessing over them. Blind Pharisee! Purify the inside first, then the outside too will be purified.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated
Life Experience)

There is no Cebuano term for “hypocrite”. In referring to one Cebuanos merely describe him as “Tigpaka Aron Ingnon”. The literal translation is “fond of pretending”. A Cebuano priest who was delivering a lecture about hypocrisy capitalized on this by reducing the description to just one word using the first letters to form the acronym. The resulting acronym was a dirty word.

“Such is the smell of hypocrisy” he exclaimed to the mesmerized attendees.

Jesus describes hypocrisy in today’s Gospel as straining out a mosquito yet swallowing a camel. It means being meticulous with negligible issues while immersing oneself in big-time anomalies. It is really about putting up a fine figure by focusing on non-essentials in order to sanitize one’s reputation threatened by bigger corruptions. The trouble with hypocrisy is that while the façade seems to point to some treasures deep within, there is really nothing in there but emptiness. My high school teacher described a doughnut as nothing surrounded by something. Hypocrites are really nothing inside. To make up for this nothingness they build grand facades to make quite an appearance.

Let’s cite concrete examples. How would you react to the hospitality of a person who uncharitably criticizes you after you leave? You’d definitely say there’s nothing in that hospitality but an empty show. Or imagine that you are in the ‘shoes’ of Jesus and as a Eucharistic Bread you are taken into the mouth by the tongue of uncharitable people. How would you feel being taken by the same tongue that maligns you by the way they treat their fellowmen? You’ll definitely exclaim: “Because you are neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you.” (See Revelations 3:15).You see, even if the “Tigpaka Aron Ingnon” can hide his foul smell for a while, the Lord already vomits him as quickly as one would spew out a hot potato. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:[email protected]. Website:www.frdan.org.
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