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