![]() ![]() Those who do admit hypocrisy, however, are usually trying to make the opposite point about themselves. I'm not saying that there is no one willing to admit to being a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is something that other people do. Hypocrisy and deceit are abhorrent to them they are without guile." What, then, must the hypocrite be like? We all know people who are hypocrites, and most of us are convinced that we aren't one of them. John Stott describes the pure in heart this way, "Their very heart-including their thoughts and motives-is pure, unmixed with anything devious, ulterior, or base. If this is true, then the opposite of purity of heart is hypocrisy. It is the person who presents the true self to God and man. What Jesus portrays here is the "single self" as opposed to the divided self. But Stott proposes that the core idea expressed in this statement has to do with singleness of heart. John Stott points out that Jesus' words in this beatitude have often been understood in terms of "inward purity." He notes that the popular interpretation is to regard purity of heart as an inner cleansing from moral defilement, as opposed to merely ceremonial cleansing. ![]() These words of Jesus pull the ladder out from under our feet and send us tumbling. "Blessed are the pure in heart," Jesus says, "for they will see God." The system breaks down, not because we cannot understand Jesus' words, but because Jesus is entirely clear that our effort to climb into God's presence by way of this beatitude fails utterly. But then we come to the beatitude we are considering today and this whole approach breaks down. If you are meek, you have come to the third rung, and so on. If you mourn, you have reached the second rung. If you are poor in spirit, you have passed the first rung. Through the centuries there have been some people who have wanted to view Jesus' teaching in the Beatitudes as a kind of ladder that can carry us to heaven. ![]()
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