Day 220 - Why is hypocrisy so bad? // "Teacher, what ... must I do to have eternal life?"
Why is "not practicing what you preach" such a serious deficiency in a Christian?
Agreement between one's life and one's witness is the first requirement for proclaiming the Gospel. Not practicing what you profess is therefore hypocrisy, a betrayal of the Christian duty to be "salt of the earth" and "light of the world".
Paul was the one who reminded the Church in Corinth: "You show that you are a letter from Christ ... written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts" (2 Cor 3:3). Christians themselves, not the things they say, are Christ's "letters of recommendation" (2 Cor 3:2) to the world.
"Teacher, what ... must I do to have eternal life?" (Mt 19:16)
Jesus says, "If you would enter life, keep the commandments" (Mt 19:17). Then he adds, "and come, follow me" (Mt 19:21).
Christianity is more than a correct life and keeping the commandments. Being a Christian is a living relationship to Jesus. A Christian unites himself deeply and personally with the Lord and with him sets out on the way that leads to true life. (YOUCAT questions 347-348)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (2052-2054) and other references here.
Part 3: Life in Christ (1691 - 2557)
Section 2: The Ten Commandments (2052 - 2557)
"Teacher, what must I do...?" ⇡
"Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?" To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the "One there is who is good," as the supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." And he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother." Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."1
1.
To this first reply Jesus adds a second: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."2 This reply does not do away with the first: following Jesus Christ involves keeping the Commandments. The Law has not been abolished,3 but rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment. In the three synoptic Gospels, Jesus' call to the rich young man to follow him, in the obedience of a disciple and in the observance of the Commandments, is joined to the call to poverty and chastity.4 The evangelical counsels are inseparable from the Commandments.
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Cf. Mt 5:17.
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Cf. Mt 19:6-12,21,23-29.
Jesus acknowledged the Ten Commandments, but he also showed the power of the Spirit at work in their letter. He preached a "righteousness [which] exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees"5 as well as that of the Gentiles.6 He unfolded all the demands of the Commandments. "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill.' ... But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment."7
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Cf. Mt 5:46-47.
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