A call to a spirit of martyrdom
Christian hypocrisy has many faces but the same image—it mirrors the countenance of a secularized Christ.
Herein lies the enigma above all enigmas: If our ecclesiastical vocation is to be a light in the darkness, how, then, could we who existentially oppose the darkness reconcile ourselves with the darkness existentially? Empty outwardness must be smashed with the force of a hammer by an absolute inwardness.
The solution to hypocrisy is not more hypocrisy, but an unrelenting spirit of martyrdom:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
It is one thing for unfettered hearts to still beat for old vices and another to come under the jurisdiction of the flesh because of it. Either we comport our lives in accordance to the worldview that “God is dead” or that “He is risen”.
As Christians, existence (what we do) does not precede, but follows from, essence (who we are). We are beacons with the light of Christ in us. We do not live, move and have our being in the world merely to cast shadows in it—even the sun does not shine for this purpose. Rather, we are called collectively, ultimately, to dispel the all-pervasive darkness therein.
