Today's Gospel word: Hypocrisy

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Sometimes scripture brings a word that is harsh and calls a person out. Sometimes, I admit, I pass over those words not ready to face them. In Mark’s Gospel today the word is Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy: a synonym of hypocrisy is two-faced. In Mark’s Gospel we hear of some hypocrisy: Mark 7:6-8 “He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’ You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” The phrase that strikes me is “disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition. Ah, the world today. I do have a pet peeve I’d like to share. When Christians do something in the name of Christianity, you must shake your head and ask: Is that what God wants? The core of most healthy religions is kindness, the sacredness of life in that we treat each other as we would want to be treated. Love in the sense of trying to understand the other person’s point of view. It is what is in our HEARTS that matters. Do I want to be judged as I judge others?  Core values should be to take care of the poor, sick, homeless, widowed, orphans etc. If you do something in the name of Christ, then Christ must be in your heart, written in your heart, and let that heart of Christ’s love flow out. Before Lent starts it might be a good time to see if there is any hypocrisy in your heart (as I intend to do) on the path…. 

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