Jekyll in Hiding

The scriptures referred to are Isaiah 58:1-12, 1 Corinthians 2:1-16, and Matthew 5:13-20.

Lately we have seen a number of powerful people who have done a lot of good things fall from favor with the public because it was revealed that privately they have done a lot of bad things. Bill Cosby was one of my favorite comedians. I have practically all of his albums. I watched the Cosby show with my family. He made educational shows for children. He gave a lot to the black community. And then black comedian Hannibal Buress in his stand-up routine made a public joke about something that was apparently widely known in Hollywood: that Cosby drugged and raped women. And eventually 60 women came forward to confirm that. And it blindsided his fans and admirers. They could not reconcile the good and bad sides of the once beloved comedian.

We've seen similar revelations about other comedians, movie stars, TV personalities, CEOs, scientists, preachers, politicians, heads of charities, etc. It's as if Robert Lewis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was not a piece of horror fiction but a mirror on reality. And Stevenson's novella may have been inspired by a friendship he had with a teacher named Eugene Chantrell, a seemingly normal man who was convicted and executed for poisoning his wife. It was also believed that Chantrell may have been a serial killer who poisoned a number of people in both Britain and his native France. Imagine discovering that about your friend!

What most people who have only seen one of the numerous adaptations of the story don't know is that in the novella Jekyll is not nobly trying to separate his good half from his bad. He confesses to a friend in a letter that he was a hypocrite, displaying a strict morality in public but privately indulging in various vices. To eliminate his shame and to continue those vices undetected he finds a way to transform himself into Hyde. So Jekyll is not all good and Hyde is just a disguise and an excuse to continue doing what he wanted to do anyway. It's in the name: Jekyll wants to hide who he really is.

The first thing Adam and Eve do after they disobey God is cover up and hide. And we all have a dark side that we try to keep secret, albeit without the aid of a secret serum that changes our appearance. And sadly, the rich and powerful have people who cover up for them and are complicit in their evil deeds. Assistants, usually women, would usher actresses up to the hotel room where Harvey Weinstein was waiting in his robe to assault them. Ghislaine Maxwell procured school girls for Jeffrey Epstein.

But not all of these revelations about modern Jekyll and Hydes are sexual. Bernie Madoff, a founder of NASDAQ and respected Wall Street investment genius, was by all accounts a generous employer and a philanthropist. He hid the fact that he also ran an Ponzi scheme that, when it inevitably collapsed, lost thousands of investors billions of dollars. Among those harmed were charities and hospitals, some of which had to close.

In today's passage from Isaiah, God answers his people as to why he hasn't favored them, though they say they are very pious. God says that religious rituals mean nothing if you mistreat people and neglect those who need help. In regards to their fasting, God says, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not hide yourself from your own kin?” If they do that, “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.”

What God is saying is that being in the right relationship with him, with others and with yourself are all necessary parts of following him. People often skip one or more of these 3 aspects of morality. They think they don't have to be good at all times and in all things to all people.

We have seen a lot of people who think if they go to church on Sundays and even serve in other religious activities they can sin on their own time. But God isn't fooled by that. Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines rules made by men.” (Matthew 15:8-9; cf. Isaiah 29:13) Rituals and outward displays of piety are not what God wants. As the book of Proverbs says, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3) And again in Isaiah, God says, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered in blood. Wash! Cleanse yourselves! Remove your sinful deeds from my sight. Stop sinning! Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphans! Defend the rights of the widow!” (Isaiah 1:15-17) You cannot be right with God and do wrong to those created in his image. (Matthew 25:41-45)

Some folks are so proud of themselves for being good to others they feel it entitles them to be a little bad at times. Gandhi got the British to give independence to India but liked to test his vow of chastity by sleeping naked with young girls. Einstein revolutionized physics and cheated on both his wives. These facts were hidden at the time.

Or folks do good to some people but not to others. President Woodrow Wilson passed the first child labor laws, the 8 hour workday, bolstered antitrust laws and helped end World War 1. He also felt blacks were inferior, re-segregated the federal government, personally fired two black department heads and killed a proposal that the League of Nations recognize racial equality. FDR established Social Security, ended Prohibition and successfully oversaw the war that defeated the Nazis. He also put 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent into detention camps during the Second World War—but not German or Italian Americans. John Lennon sang about peace and imagined a beautiful new world but admitted to beating his wife and other women.

C.S. Lewis compared the 3 types of morality to a convoy of ships. It is just as important that the crews maintain their own ships, so that they don't sink, as it is that they maintain the proper position within the convoy so they don't crash into the other ships. It is also important that they are going to the right destination, so they don't end up in Sidney, Australia when they should be going to New York. He also used the analogy of an orchestra. Each musician must make sure his own instrument is properly tuned and maintained. They also have to make sure they are all in harmony with each other, on the same measure and keeping the same beat. They have to make sure they are playing the musical piece they are supposed to as well. If the conductor is trying to get them to perform Beethoven's 9^th Symphony, they shouldn't play “Pop goes the Weasel” instead.

In the same way, we are to treat ourselves properly as well as other people and God. Omitting 1 of the 3 is bad. The Nazis are famous for their disciplined troops but were fighting for an objectively evil cause. Tomas de Torquemada was known for his learning and personal piety but he led the Spanish Inquisition. Voice of the Martyrs is an international human rights organization that provides practical and spiritual assistance to persecuted Christians in 68 countries. In 2012 when allegations of child abuse were made against Tom White, executive director of the US branch, he killed himself.

But let's face it: it is supremely hard to do right by God, do right by others and do right by ourselves. So how can we possibly do all that? In our passage from 1 Corinthians, Paul says, “we have the mind of Christ.” Jesus was able to do all 3. He prayed and worshiped at the synagogue and the Temple. He healed the sick and fed the hungry. And his personal conduct was so blameless that at his trial his accusers had to make stuff up about him. (Mark 14:55-59)

But how do we have the mind of Christ? Paul says, “we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God.” This is the same Spirit which descended upon Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16) and of which Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) The Spirit that was in Jesus now resides in us. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

The Spirit produces in us “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Those are qualities that help us in caring for others as well as for ourselves. How can we love our neighbors as ourselves if we do not love ourselves? How can we have peace with others if we are not at peace with ourselves? How can we be patient with others if we have no patience with ourselves? How can we encourage others to exercise self-control if we have no self-control?

These qualities don't appear overnight. And I think Paul was right to call them the fruit of the Spirit because fruit takes a while to ripen and mature. Provided we do not try to extinguish the Spirit's activity in us (1 Thessalonians 5:19) but instead nurture these qualities through prayer, worship, studying the scriptures, and practical application of its principles in our lives, we will start to see results. (Acts 2:42-47)

God gives us his Spirit because he is not trying to make people who mindlessly follow rules. That rarely brings about good people, just compliant ones. That's what the Nazis wanted. God wants to make people new creations in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17) He wants us to think differently and therefore act differently.

The world says that you should go after whatever makes you feel good. Hemingway actually said, “What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.” But that's not an ethical guideline that will make the world better. That's what the greedy do. That's what narcissists do. That's what bullies and dictators do. That's what sexual predators do. That's what serial killers do. Hemingway may be regarded as a great writer but not as any kind of philosopher or a moral example.

Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and pleasant.” (Romans 12:2) And by what is good, he doesn't mean what is good for you or a few but what's good for everyone. And the only motivation for caring about what is good for everyone is loving everyone.

Slowly psychologists are catching up with the wisdom in the Bible. They have found that having more money or more possessions doesn't make for lasting happiness. Once you are no longer in need of food, clothing, and shelter, the excess doesn't translate into greater happiness. They have also found that merely having positive emotions is not sufficient for happiness. However, they have found that doing things for others is more likely to make you happy than doing things for yourself. They have found that having good relationships are essential to having a good life. And they found that another essential element of happiness is finding meaning and purpose in life.

Jesus told us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. There is the key to having meaning and purpose in life; there is the key to having good relationships; there is the reason to do good things for others.

But as we said, God wants us to grow beyond the point where we have to consult the rules to do these things. He wants us to become people who produce the fruit of the Spirit the way a tree produces its fruit; that is, he wants these things to come naturally to us. Which paradoxically requires the supernatural help of the Spirit in transforming us into Christlike persons.

C.S. Lewis compared what God does in us to a builder totally renovating your house. At first the changes make sense to you. You knew that the floor had to be replaced or the roof had to be fixed. But then the builder starts knocking out walls and creating a banquet hall and putting up towers and doing things you never conceived were part of the job. Because God is not restoring your cozy little house for you to live in by yourself; he is building a palace because he, the King, is moving in with you.

If we allow the Spirit to do what he is supposed to do in us, we will eventually see the logic of it. We will start to perceive ourselves, others and God as Jesus does. We will have the mind of Christ. We will be the temple of the Holy Spirit.

We will not need to hide any dark side of us from God or from the world or from ourselves. For if we live by the Spirit of the God who is Love Incarnate, we will be the light of the world, as our gospel passage says. Because the one who is the light of the world, Jesus, will shine through us. (John 9:5) And in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)