It was the custom for Greek and Roman actors to
speak in large masks with mechanical devices
for augmenting the force of the voice. Hence
the word became used metaphorically of a
disembler, a hypocrite.
Hypocrisy: play-acting, pretense
Hypocrite: One who answers, stage actor
Jesus had a lot to say in Scripture about hypocrisy. He
denounced the scribes and pharisees, calling them
"generation of serpents" and generation of vipers."
There is a lot of hypocrital people in the world today. People
who wear "masks", and the mask they wear depends on the
situation and the people they are with. There are not what
they seem, and put on different 'faces' to fool people with
lies, pretending to be who they are not. Wolfs in
"sheep's clothing."
Sadly, this also pertains to the "church" world. People
go to church, shout, sing, praise the Lord, then go home
and "kick the dog, cuss the cat, and say mean hurtful
things to those they profess to love. They will praise a sermon
to a preacher's face, then go home and have 'roast
preacher' for lunch!
Jesus would say of these people, "This people honoreth
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." If
we belong to Christ, then one of the things we will do
is 'love the brethren.' If we love each other, we won't
be busy trying to put each other down, and we will
be "real."
We may at times fool the people around us with our
"masks", but we will never fool God. He sees beyond the
outward 'face' we put on, to the intents and motives
of the heart. We must not be like the hypocrites,
"like dead men's bones", but we must be like Christ,
sincere and without guile.
Let us take off the "masks" because Jesus said:
"There is nothing covered that shall not be
revealed. Neither hidded that shall not be known."
Sooner or later, the mask will slip, and we will be
found out for what we really are.
Let us, as followers of Christ,
BE REAL!
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