Why I’m A Hypocrite
This is a developing thought that has influences which are vast. It’s the kind of idea that rattles around with no place to go. So I thought I’d share it, no matter how incoherent it may be. The idea is simple: I’m not afraid to be a hypocrite.
It’s true that traditionally, being hypocritical is more or less frowned upon. I would agree that hypocrisy can be (and is) devastating. It has the potential to lead to obfuscation, apprehension and a general uneasiness toward whoever is behaving in this insincere manner. I know from my own experience that so often if I detect even the slightest hint of hypocrisy coming from someone who is opposed to something that I affirm, their point of view or idea quickly loses value in my eyes. This is what hypocrisy can do to us, it makes us bitter and can lessen our appreciation for the one who is before us. Since we’ve obviously found a flaw or a chink in the armor of our enemy, we’re excused and duly justified in pointing out this contradiction in our foe’s life. This inevitably enables us move past them while we shake our heads in disgust.
“What a hypocrite,” we may think to ourselves as this person standing in front of us, who heats their home with natural gas, preaches to us about the dangerous effects gas drilling could have on the environment.
Hypocrisy makes us angry, as well it should. I mean, Jesus got angry at hypocrites right? He surely did, especially when it involved some sort of oppression, mistreatment, manipulation or intentional deception of people(s). There is a great sense of justice that accompanies the pointing out of hypocrisy, but this isn’t the kind of hypocrisy I’m speaking about. I’m not speaking about the kind of hypocrisy found in the Pharisees whom Jesus accuses. The hypocrisy found there is more or less a disguise that covers a pathetic, feeble and sorrowful nature, one that I’m sure is bound up with issues of power and greed (among many other things).
No, the hypocrisy I’m speaking of, and the one that I’m not afraid of, is one that is often misunderstood. This kind of hypocrisy has less to do with intentionally lying, cheating and deceiving others, and more to do with striving to create a new, better reality. It’s not about deceiving ourselves in regard to how things are, or trying to fool others into thinking or doing something. This kind kind of prophetic hypocrisy is more about honestly assessing the ways things really are in the world, perhaps noticing that some things are not quite right, and then submitting an alternative. Many times this involves having to honestly admit that the justifications for this assertion may fall just a bit short.
Peter Rollins says it better than I ever could:
Take the example of activists who protest against the building of a motorway through a forest. It is perfectly possible to find many, if not most, of the protesters acknowledging both the futility of their mission and even questioning its justification. The protesters may know that, on purely rational grounds, the motorway is needed. They may know that, were they to engage in a public debate, their position would be exposed as lacking the rational framework that would justify their actions. Why? Because, the hegemonic ideological matrix that we exist within dictates the scope and limitations of the rational framework itself. So why do they act? Because the activists are affirming now a reality that does not yet exist, a reality that would, if it was instantiated, justify the actions that they are presently engaged in. They are fighting without justification for a world that would offer that justification.
I’m pretty sure that the Pharisees had mutual feelings toward Jesus. After all, he claimed to follow the Torah yet healed and forgave on the Sabbath. Jesus was indeed a hypocrite. He professed that a new way of life (or Kingdom) was at hand, but did not say that we should do away with the law. He preached this new way of life (and also lived it which is important). He proved that we’re all hypocrites in one way or another, and at the same time, showed that hypocrisy may not be such a bad thing all of the time.
Painting by Russel Leng
Maybe this is semantics, but I would say the person who is attempting change knowing their own inconsistency with what they speak is different than the hypocrite who doesn't know/acknowledge the inconsistency. I would say you are not a truly a hypocrite if you living in a Sartrean good-faith or a Heideggerian authenticity--acknowledging where you are at but also knowing you are free to move beyond that.To use different terms, we shouldn't be foolish to think we have a fully-realized eschatology but rather simply a inaugurated one, one that has broken in but isn't fully developed, there is still a waiting for its completion.
Following Paul's thoughts from Romans 6, we should identify ourselves with the new identity, we are new creatures which has been promised to us in Jesus' resurrection even if we can't fully see that today. We should acknowledge the sin in our life but know that in Jesus that sin doesn't define us any longer.
As far as Jesus being a hypocrite & his use of the law--he is redefining what it means to be an Israelite, a child of God; he does this by cutting deep into the law, drawing out the deep implicit claims of the Torah because they had lost that foundational purpose and were living on the surface of the text. Jesus with the law, Abraham with Isaac, they are both beyond or below the law to get at something deeper or beyond. It is a certain dialectical move, they move to a different plane; you judge them as hypocrites is to judge their actions on the former plane rather than move with them to the further plane.
This is why Jesus tells them to follow him, for them to understand they can't simply use their already-formed understanding to explain what he was doing, they needed to follow him and be transformed to understand what the transformation was about.
Well after writing all this, I feel my thoughts have moved afield from your original thought, so I will stop.
Great thoughts Jonathan! I really do appreciate your comments.I am definitely making the distinction between two different kinds of hypocrisy. One you could say is intentional and one that is perhaps incidental. Whether or not you want to call the latter hypocrisy or not probably is, you're right, semantical.
The thing that I'm not trying to get away from is the contradiction, I embrace that. I am a contradiction. I think it's important to acknowledge that in order for transformation to occur.
I like what you say here:
This is why Jesus tells them to follow him, for them to understand they cant simply use their already-formed understanding to explain what he was doing, they needed to follow him and be transformed to understand what the transformation was about.
This is exactly right. It's along the lines of what I quoted above:
They may know that, were they to engage in a public debate, their position would be exposed as lacking the rational framework that would justify their actions. Why? Because, the hegemonic ideological matrix that we exist within dictates the scope and limitations of the rational framework itself.
But anyway, the point of this post was not to accuse anyone of being or not being a hypocrite, it was to urge people (mostly myself) to not be so quick in labeling others as hypocrites. Like it or not, once that happens it's easy to be dismissive and lose sight of what's important, love.
Good thought, though I would push back that that isn't truly hypocrisy. Isn't hypocrisy is about hiding behind a mask. We say one thing to create an image to hide behind so our real self isn't exposed. What your saying is about exposure not hiding. I am reminded of Kierkegaard's account of Abraham in Fear & Trembling, his call from God brings him beyond the law--the activist on Rollins' account is trying draw us beyond the status quo towards something...the way justice is always subverting the law in Derrida.
Thanks for the comment Jonathan! I agree, hypocrisy is about hiding behind a mask. Saying one thing that is virtuous, then turning around and doing something that is contrary. I guess what I was trying to get at is how easy it is to see people as hypocrites and write them off, being that so often our lives seem to be filled with contradiction (I embrace contradiction by the way). But I mean the person who uses natural gas in their home and then protests against drilling to extract the mineral, would tend to be viewd by a gas company worker as a hypocrite. I use this example only because Natural Gas extraction is a big issue right now where I live and I'm familiar with how the logic works. To the gas company worker, the activist simply espouses virtuous, ideological rhetoric that is not backed up with how they live. I'm not afraid to call it what it is, in fact I am the person who uses gas and is also worried about how the extraction process could damage things. I'm a hypocrite. But I'm a hypocrite that knows I'm a hypocrite, and at least I'm trying to create a world where it's possible for me to no longer have to admit that.
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"I don't practice what I preach because I'm not the kind of person I'm preaching to."-- Bob DobbsHigh Epoch of the Church of the Subgenius
[...] Our desire to be known, fully known, is something we cannot easily deny. I think it why Jesus tells his disciples that whatever you do for the least of these you do for me (Matt 25:40). Followers of the way are called to give hope to the hopeless and stand up for those who cannot stand. In essence, Christians are to pay attention to those who folks who are ignored. And if this is the case, if we truly embody the words of Jesus, then we can say in confidence that we are surely known by our fruits (Luke 6:44), despite what hypocrisy we may be trying to hide. [...]