Season Five Episode Three - Hypocrisy

[Dr. Shane]

The episode starts with Jesus at the Last Supper as recorded in John 14. The disciples struggle to accept what Jesus tells them at face value. Their minds are so ingrained with what they have been taught all of their lives that the words of Jesus do not make sense to them. We see this type of confirmation bias in our world today in politics, religion and even other areas of life like medical treatment. People embrace something as truth and become very resistant to seeing it as error.

There are several scenes in the episode of Jesus teaching in the temple. He confronts the religious leaders on multiple occasions. He exposes their hypocrisy. They teach one thing but do another. Can we see hypocrisy in our own lives? If we cannot, does the fact we can't see hypocrisy in our lives make us wonder if we don't have blind spots like the Pharisees did? I performed a wedding ceremony this afternoon at the international border.  I was given a large donation for Happiness Ministry afterward and I walked across the bridge in the area into Mexico to visit with some friends. There were many beggars lining the sidewalk to the bridge on the way back. I passed them by without giving any of them money. Was that a sin of omission? Christians tend to be good at identifying sins of commission but have a blind spot for sins of omission. Does the message Jesus delivered to the Pharisees have an application in my life? That is worth examining. 

The episode ends with Jesus mourning over Jerusalem. The Israelites were God's chosen people to take His message to the world but they failed. Jesus felt the pain of that failure. That responsibility was being removed from the Jews and placed upon the followers of Christ. For the most part, Christian churches today strive to carry the gospel message to the world. We have hospitals, schools, homeless shelters, music recording studios, television and radio networks, publishing houses and movie studios. However, many members simply attend church and warm a pew. God calls Christians to serve. The sad reality is that many nominating committees cannot find enough volunteers to lead the many ministries a church has. There are also many that accept a leadership position and do nothing with it. Does Jesus' cry over Jerusalem include the pew warmers in the Christian church today?