Politicians in Washington this week have played the gotcha game to
perfection. To make matters worst the news media feeds on it. Not only do
they feed on it, they feed it, hoping for a national scandal to make
themselves appear relevant. Whether it's Iraq, Katrina, or the latest brawl
over the Rove/Plame/Miller/Libby leak case, I thought these political events
a fitting context for our scriptural text about hypocrisy.
Listen to what Jesus says about these politicians (in his day they were
called Pharisees): "They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders,
but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them." Now what
did Jesus mean? Simply this: The Pharisees made laws. They demanded that the
common person follow those laws. But they themselves found ways to get
around those laws. Get it? They were not willing to carry the heavy loads
they demanded everyone else carry. In a word: Hypocrisy.
In Washington, the standards that the Democrats set for the Republicans,
they themselves are not willing to live by. And the standards that the
Republicans set for the Democrats, they themselves are not willing to live
by. Why? Because if you let down you're guard for one moment and admit that
you are wrong, you're political opponents will seize the moment and go for
the kill.
I am reminded of a story about England's Prince Philip who was toasted at a
banquet once with two lines from the poet John Dryden:
A man so various that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
The prince liked the lines so much he looked up the rest of the poem:
Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong;
Was everything by starts, and nothing long:
But, in the course of one revolving moon, Was chemist, fiddler, statesman,
and buffoon.
I don't know who that person was who quoted that poem to Prince Philip but
he sure got his point across. Washington needs a prophet like that, to step
up and expose the abuse, the hypocrisy, the buffoonery. Jesus was that
prophet in his day. He demanded honest leadership. Jesus was saying that
leaders must guard against hypocrisy and aim toward humility, set aside
greatness and strive for servanthood, wait for honor and act now out of
duty.
Leadership, the way Jesus described it, is hard to find, even among the
religious. It is difficult to find because..
1. Hypocrisy keeps most leaders from being effective leaders.
2. And because the solution is humility.
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