Lip-Syncing Through Life
(Deut.4:1-2, 6-8; Jas.1:17-18, 21b-22, 27; Mk.7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)
‘Lip-syncing’ occurs when someone silently mimes someone else’s pre-recorded words or song.
It became common at the end of the silent movie era, when many film stars didn’t quite have the right speaking or singing voice.
But it has been controversial. Many people felt cheated when they learnt that Audrey Hepburn had lip-synced her songs in My Fair Lady. And in 1990, when the world discovered that Milli Vanilli didn’t sing their own songs, people were outraged. The real singers were two former US soldiers who apparently didn’t have the right ‘look’.
Milli Vanilli had to return their Grammy Award for ‘Best New Artist.’
When people are expected to be authentic, lip-syncing is often considered dishonest.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus accuses the Pharisees of lip-syncing to the Old Testament. The Pharisees have been demanding to know why Jesus lets his disciples eat without washing their hands. But Jesus knows they’re not really interested in hygiene or in God’s commandments. Their real concern is ensuring that the people obey their own rules about ritual purification.
Jesus is annoyed. The Pharisees are mouthing the right words, but they are not genuine, so He quotes Isaiah’s prophecy, ‘This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless…’ (Is.29:13).
It’s quite easy to put on a false front to hide what’s really in our hearts. One man was very good at this, at least for a while. He filled his speeches with Christian references. He spoke of God’s blessings and the importance of Christianity to his new government. He even held up a well-thumbed Bible, explaining how it had inspired him. But such hypocrisy is not sustainable, and the world soon learnt who Adolf Hitler really was.
In our second reading today, St James says that there’s a vital connection between faith and love. Genuine religion, he says, is about caring for suffering widows and orphans, and making sure that our hearts are not corrupted by our selfish world.
In other words, our Christian faith is about genuinely loving God and each other, in both word and deed, for the heart is fundamental to everything we do.
Indeed, our hearts are at the very core of our human identity, and when our words and actions don’t connect with our hearts, we lose our integrity. And when we lose our integrity, people stop trusting us. They turn away.
For our words to ring true, they must come from the heart. For our actions to be authentic, they must be inspired by the heart. And for our faith to be genuine, it must be embedded in our hearts.
We know this, don’t we? Without our heart, our welcome is hollow, our words are empty and our faith is false.
Indeed, Flor McCarthy tells us that it’s only with the heart that we can see rightly. To see with the eyes only is to be no better than a camera.
It’s only with the heart that we can hear rightly. The cry of a needy person may reach our ears, but unless it reaches our hearts we will not feel that person’s pain, and it’s unlikely that we’ll respond.
It’s only with the heart that we can work rightly. If our heart is in our work, the work becomes a joy and we put our best into it. But if our heart is not in it, we are working under the severest handicap of all.
And it’s only with the heart that we can forgive rightly. If forgiveness does not come from the heart, it will not bring us peace, nor will it result in true reconciliation with the other. [i]
The message for today, then, is that if you’ve been lip-syncing your way through life, it’s time to stop. It’s time to get real and engage with your heart.
Let’s close with a little story.
A humble gardener presents his king with the greatest carrot he has ever grown. The king is touched and responds by giving the gardener a large plot of land.
A nobleman witnesses this event, and decides that it would be advantageous for him to present the king with his finest horse.
He does just that, but the king merely thanks him for the horse.
Seeing the nobleman quite confused, the king explains to him, ‘That gardener was giving me the carrot. But you were giving yourself the horse.’
[i] Flor McCarthy, The Gospel of the Heart, Dominican Publications, Dublin, 2005:167.