Theology Time

Sunday Theology Time. “… when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” That was my Sainted Mother’s favorite verse of the Bible, I think. It may have been a close second to Verse 35 of the Gospel of John, Chapter 11: “Jesus wept.” Of course, she had a funny story that went with that, but let’s wait for another day.

Right now, let’s continue with our consideration of The Sermon on the Mount. The Galilean was beginning to “shuck the corn” when he got down to the hypocrites. He offered some pretty strong words in Verse Five of Chapter Six: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.”

Then he gets into to Sainted Mother’s line about praying in closets. If there was one thing she shared with the Galilean, it was a wariness about hypocrites. She called them “religious fanatics,” which broadened the definition a bit. I hate to think how she would feel about the hypocrisy that drips from our nation’s capital now.

“Oh my goodness,” I can just hear her say. “They’re calling that man a Christian?” Sainted Mother would have had what she called a, well I can’t say what she would have called it but it involved, among others, a euphemism for excrement, and the words “hemorrhage” and “fit.” Enough said about that. She had a most colorful command of our language, especially when she referred to hypocrites. They seemed to bring out the most erudite in her.

Forget Her for a second and consider Him. Why was the Galilean so upset about hypocrites? I mean, he was lumping them in with murderers, adulterers, thieves, and the greedy. Hypocrites? Well he certainly didn’t include them on the list of those who were blessed. He didn’t “cut them much slack” as they used to say in the Navy. He reminds us that “Your Father, … sees what is done in secret.” Oh dear. That’s got to scare the hell out of some folks while comforting others.

Is he telling those now in power that when they refuse to provide succor to those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, are pure in heart, who are  peacemakers, or who are persecuted because of righteousness that they be in some serious trouble if they don’t change their ways? See Franklin Graham run.

Perhaps the most notable band of hypocrites are those shouting the loudest about this being a “Christian Nation.” The Galilean laughed about it last time we spoke. He almost guffawed when he said, “Verily I say unto you (he does that as an inside joke) … I say unto you: Were my Beatitudes to be flashed up in bright lights on the wall of the U.S. Senate chamber, there would be a great rushing to dark places by those who use my name for that which is cruel and greedy.”

Wow. He’s worse than Sainted Mother.

He sets a pretty high standard, that Galilean. What in the world would happen, you think, if he’s watching America now?