Actors On A Stage?

In Rwanda, and this is not to make light of the Genocide, there existed a Catholic church in a place called Kibuye where thousands of vulnerable women, children and men, especially of the Tutsi ethnic group, ran for safety, care, support and security during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. However, the church leaders pretended to protect the people when factually they allied with enemy forces that came and massacred thousands of innocent and defenseless people.

Ironically, to date, the church still stands, elegant and wonderfully painted from the outside. But inside it is the stench of death symbolized by the sight of dry bones of dead men, women and children. The church was turned into a mass grave; a monument of the heinous hatred and spite; an icon of hypocrisy, indeed, what its leaders have made it.

Jesus speaking to the religious leaders in Matt 23:27 called the Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites. He likened them to white washed sepulchers (graves), ‘which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.’ He cried woe to them; the sound and warning of eminent judgment coming on them.

The word hypocrisy is defined to mean ‘the feigning  of beliefs, feelings or virtues that one does not hold or possess; insincerity (American Heritage Dictionary) The Greek word for it is ‘hupokrisis’ which means “the playing of a part on the stage”. (Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary)

In many respects that is what many people are, hypocrites! People who are not truthful from the inside; they appear elegant and well off on their appearance but are rotting or rather have rotten on the inside. No one is made a hypocrite nor can be forced to be one; people choose to be.

We need to practice sincerity and truthfulness with ourselves, with God and with other people. So many people are not sincere with themselves. They deceive themselves and even attempt to deceive God by pretending that all is well. They are actors on the stage for others to see yet they are feigning their beliefs, feelings or virtues to impress others.

David understood the importance of being truthful to God, to people and himself and of being made whole before making impact or offering to help others. He said ‘Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.’ (Ps 51:6) Because he had sinned, he asked God to restore to him the joy of salvation; uphold him with His free Spirit. From then, he would be able to teach transgressors the ways of the Lord (Ps 51:11-13). We can never effectively teach others what we ourselves have not learnt. We are not able to impact others with what has not impacted us. If we attempt so to do, we are simply actors on the stage, not being truthful in the inward parts.

Part of what forms our inward parts is our motive. God wants our motive for doing the things we do to be right. 1Cor 13:13 says ‘And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing’. Here Paul stresses the need for us to be motivated by love to be able to ‘act our scenes on the stage’. Unless our motive is right, the things we do are empty in themselves and they profit us nothing.

Ananias and Safire saw believers selling their possessions and bringing the proceeds to the Apostles so that the needs of others would be met. In order to fit and be seen contributing also, they went and sold their piece of land and brought part of the money, and declared that it was the whole. Notice that, they did not need to sell their land if they did not want to; neither did they need to bring all the money if they chose not to, because those who brought their money did so voluntarily.

By bringing just a part, they were pretending; feigning a virtue for others to see; unfortunately for them, they never lived to repent of their wrong.

There are times we do not want to or feel like doing some things but it does not mean that if we do them we are acting on the stage. For example, Jesus did not feel like going to the cross. He asked God to take the cup away from him. Nevertheless, he went to the cross for our salvation (Matt 26:39, 42). Hypocrisy is therefore doing something with a selfish motive; to be seen; to satisfy our own ego even though the same action or thing does benefit others in a way.

This may not be a thing that happens in your entire life. It may be in a small part of your life. It may be in your relationship with God or with others. It may be in you covering some issues in your own heart while showing others all is well. It may be in your giving, your speech, the way you lead your life; we need to sit down and carefully evaluate, are we actors on the stage?

The answer is yours and mine to give!