Jesus calls us as disciples to draw people to God. Our good deeds can draw people to God, but bad deeds or hypocrisy can drive people away from the church and even from God. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls us to let our light shine:
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Jesus teaches that our “good deeds” is the light that leads people not to praise us but to glorify God. In today’s Gospel Jesus warns against hypocrisy not just of Jewish leaders but especially of Christian leaders and all other disciples:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”
The Pharisees were a Jewish lay reform movement. They were zealous for the things of God. They were not per se legalist or hypocrites. Religious zeal or devotion is a good thing but it can lead to fanaticism. We see that in Judaism but also in Christianity. Zealous religious people can be quick to judge and condemn. Jesus warns us against such a judgmental attitude because this is also hypocrisy:
“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
Too often Christian preachers have made the Pharisees the scapegoat instead of looking at the “wooden beam” of their own hypocrisy. Jesus calls us and particularly those of us who are Christian leaders, to examine ourselves and to turn from our own hypocrisy. Jesus wants us to let the light of our good deeds shine that we may lead people to give glory to God.
Image: “Rosselli, Sermon on the Mount” by f_snarfel is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.