Jesus told his hearers a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”
In all its forms, hypocrisy displays one thing and lives another. Nobody is completely transparent, so this is about us all. The Psalmist who wrote “I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites” (25:4) appears greatly over-confident – or he didn’t know himself very well. The worst form of hypocrisy is to claim that we are never hypocritical.
Jesus repeatedly called the Pharisees hypocrites: see especially Matthew 23. It is significant that in today’s reading he is saying the very same thing to his owndisciples. He called the Pharisees “blind guides leading the blind.” And he added, “If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14). To the disciples he said, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.”
We Christians are quick to condemn certain evils but slow to condemn others. We can be quick to condemn social injustices but slow to admit that there are injustices in the Church. We can be quick to defend the unborn but indifferent to them and their families once they are born. The vile crime of child sexual abuse has blighted the lives of thousands and brought shame on the Church. Those crimes were often compounded by the silence of Church authorities. There is no shortage of commentators eager to call attention to all this, many of them deeply antagonistic to the Church. But what matters is the truth or falsity of what is said, not who says it. The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes made these points. “The Church…is very well aware that among her members, both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to the Spirit of God during the course of many centuries; in the present age, too, it does not escape the Church how great a distance lies between the message she offers and the human failings of those to whom the Gospel is entrusted….The Church admits that she has greatly profited and still profits from the antagonism of those who oppose or who persecute her” (n. 44). Sadly, that kind of humility is not nearly as much in evidence today.
There is the hypocrisy of a group and the hypocrisy of individuals. Their relationship is not at all one of simple arithmetic. Groups are made up of individuals, yes, but a group is more than the sum of individuals. There is a kind of group hypocrisy that far outweighs the sum of individual hypocrisy. Individuals who are personally not at all hypocritical can somehow be party to group hypocrisy, willing to defend the indefensible. Narcissistic attitudes like vanity, defensiveness, meanness of spirit, which would be considered unworthy in an individual, are “loyalty” and “fidelity” in a group. We should ask forgiveness for our sins, and not rename them as virtues. God is not honoured by hypocrisy. To turn group hypocrisy into a virtue is a form of atheism; it is to see God as in no way different from pagan idols, which have “mouths but they cannot speak, eyes but they cannot see, ears but they cannot hear” (Ps 113). “Do not be deceived,” wrote St Paul, “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7).
They are hypocrites who belittle others and their religion. They are hypocrites who “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; while they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (Mt 23:4). They are hypocrites who “tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Mt 23:23) – those who make a couple of external practices the touchstone of the faith.
The Word of God invites us to cast out the old yeast and celebrate with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8).
Commentary on 8th Sunday of the Year (C), 2.03.2025
Commentary by Fr Donagh O’Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie
Jesus told his hearers a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”
In all its forms, hypocrisy displays one thing and lives another. Nobody is completely transparent, so this is about us all. The Psalmist who wrote “I do not sit with the worthless, nor do I consort with hypocrites” (25:4) appears greatly over-confident – or he didn’t know himself very well. The worst form of hypocrisy is to claim that we are never hypocritical.
Jesus repeatedly called the Pharisees hypocrites: see especially Matthew 23. It is significant that in today’s reading he is saying the very same thing to his own disciples. He called the Pharisees “blind guides leading the blind.” And he added, “If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14). To the disciples he said, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.”
We Christians are quick to condemn certain evils but slow to condemn others. We can be quick to condemn social injustices but slow to admit that there are injustices in the Church. We can be quick to defend the unborn but indifferent to them and their families once they are born. The vile crime of child sexual abuse has blighted the lives of thousands and brought shame on the Church. Those crimes were often compounded by the silence of Church authorities. There is no shortage of commentators eager to call attention to all this, many of them deeply antagonistic to the Church. But what matters is the truth or falsity of what is said, not who says it. The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes made these points. “The Church…is very well aware that among her members, both clerical and lay, some have been unfaithful to the Spirit of God during the course of many centuries; in the present age, too, it does not escape the Church how great a distance lies between the message she offers and the human failings of those to whom the Gospel is entrusted….The Church admits that she has greatly profited and still profits from the antagonism of those who oppose or who persecute her” (n. 44). Sadly, that kind of humility is not nearly as much in evidence today.
There is the hypocrisy of a group and the hypocrisy of individuals. Their relationship is not at all one of simple arithmetic. Groups are made up of individuals, yes, but a group is more than the sum of individuals. There is a kind of group hypocrisy that far outweighs the sum of individual hypocrisy. Individuals who are personally not at all hypocritical can somehow be party to group hypocrisy, willing to defend the indefensible. Narcissistic attitudes like vanity, defensiveness, meanness of spirit, which would be considered unworthy in an individual, are “loyalty” and “fidelity” in a group. We should ask forgiveness for our sins, and not rename them as virtues. God is not honoured by hypocrisy. To turn group hypocrisy into a virtue is a form of atheism; it is to see God as in no way different from pagan idols, which have “mouths but they cannot speak, eyes but they cannot see, ears but they cannot hear” (Ps 113). “Do not be deceived,” wrote St Paul, “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7).
They are hypocrites who belittle others and their religion. They are hypocrites who “tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; while they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (Mt 23:4). They are hypocrites who “tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Mt 23:23) – those who make a couple of external practices the touchstone of the faith.
The Word of God invites us to cast out the old yeast and celebrate with “the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor 5:8).