One of Aesop’s fables is about a fox that was being followed by a group of hunters. The fox, trying to escape, found a woodcutter and asked him for help. The woodcutter was afraid of being mistreated by the hunters if they knew that he helped the fox to escape from them.
However, after doubting for just a couple of seconds, he decided to help the fox. “Okay, I will help you. Come here” he said pointing to a pile of wood already cut and stacked. The fox went there and the woodcutter, removing some of the pieces of wood, hid the fox.
Right after he finished hiding the fox, the hunters arrived and asked him about the fox. The woodcutter said, “I did not see a fox.” However, he started pointing to the stack of wood and made signs with his head, as if saying “the fox is there”. The hunters were puzzled by the gestures of the woodcutter. “Are you sure that you did not see a fox?” they asked him.
He, said no again with his mouth, all the while making signs to try to show them that the fox was hidden among the wood. The fox was trying to hold his breath and wondering why the woodcutter was pointing at the stack where he was. After a couple of minutes of hesitation, the hunters decided to continue looking for the fox elsewhere, thinking that the woodcutter was out of his mind and for that reason was inconsistent with his words and gestures.
When the hunters left, the fox left his hiding place and started walking in the opposite direction from the hunters. “Won’t you thank me?” asked the woodcutter. “I would thank you if your words and your actions were consistent” the fox answered and then he asked him: “why, were you pointing to my hiding place while you were saying with your mouth that you did not see me?” The woodcutter did not know what to say and the fox left without saying “thank you.”
However, later the woodcutter realized that he was inconsistent out of fear, and he learned an important lesson. From that moment on, he tried to be consistent between his words and actions and not to allow his passions to betray him.
Many times, hypocrisy is a result of our passions rather than a desire to be false. This is very important for us Christians since we must preach the Gospel not only with our words, but also with our actions.
In order to prevent this problem, we should do two things: first of all, we must live what we preach. For example, if I preach about the love of our neighbor, I should ask myself if I am harboring any hate in my heart or if I am trying to help my neighbors, etc. We should never stop confronting ourselves with our own preaching.
Second, we should examine if we preach the whole Gospel or if we select certain teachings from it. For example, if I preach about charity but never about humility, it probably means that I am not humble, and I avoid preaching about humility because I do not want to accuse myself. If I cut the message of the Gospel or change the Gospel to say that it allows what it actually condemns, it is because I am doing something wrong and want to hide it.
