I say this more often than I should, but it bears repeating – there’s a difference between being a sinner and being a hypocrite. Jesus spent a lot of time healing, forgiving, and loving sinners, but He had little patience for hypocrites. Some of His harshest words were for ultra-religious people who looked sparkling clean on the outside but were rancid on the inside. We are imperfectly made by a perfect God, so we are bound to mess up. Sometimes, we make mistakes – errors in judgment; we might say the wrong thing or think thoughts we shouldn’t. This is the cost of imperfection. Hypocrites, on the other hand, believe themselves to be better than everyone else; they think the rules don’t apply to them. The truth is that nobody is above the law, and nobody is morally pure or ethically exempt. Those who believe they can sin with impunity are hypocrites.
This is why the images of evangelical ministers gathered around Texas senate candidate Ken Paxton are so disturbing. 30 of them gathered around him and laid hands on him, using Romans 13 to justify their actions. They prayed for “supernatural strength”, whatever that is. Romans 13, simply, begins by saying that no ruler has authority outside of God – that all rulers are anointed and appointed by God. That chapter also says this is why we should pay taxes, something a lot of people leave out. The image of the clergy around this unrepentant man is the height of hypocrisy. And please understand – religious people should pray for our leaders – I often do, both privately and in worship. This is something else; this is the same person who says that his opponent – a Christian seminary student – is not a Christian. The same person whose wife divorced him on “biblical grounds” because he committed adultery. The same person who traveled to Europe with one of the women he was cheating with. That he and you and I are sinners is not up for debate, at least by me. It’s the hypocrisy that is the problem.
People like Paxton use religion to get elected; they use religion to control gullible people. They don’t practice it, but they do force it on others, like Hegseth is doing with the armed forces. They don’t believe in it, but they invoke the name of Jesus every chance they get, because they know that a lot of people can’t tell the difference between real faith and fake faith. They use God to gain wealth and power and advantages; they steal from the poor and give to themselves. I believe that we are all beautifully flawed and imperfect creations of God. We are all prone to temptation and we all have the spark of the divine within us. When we screw up, we need to see it, admit it, repent of it, and atone for it. Those who don’t are no better or worse than I am, but they are hypocrites. And the clergy who support their blatant hypocrisy are an embarrassment to me – and possibly the worst hypocrites of all. We should all humbly recognize the danger this poses in our lives, and work to mitigate it. Then, ask for forgiveness when we don’t.
Prayer – Holy God, so many of us are trying to do what is right; forgive us when we fail and give us courage to try again. Amen.
Our photo is of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton with Vintage Church Senior Pastor Daniel Hayworth on the altar at the church this past Sunday.