The Land of Oz
Years ago there was a small theme park called "The Land of Oz" which was on land owned by the Beech Mountain ski resort in western North Carolina. You would wait outside Aunt Em's house and when the right number of people had gathered, a girl who looked like Dorothy would lead the group on their tour. You would walk through the house and see some of the items used in the movie. You would walk down some ramps as you see a film loop of the house in the twister. At the bottom of the ramps you walk through the house which has landed at an angle. Once outside you follow Dorothy down the yellow brick road. Along the way there are four stages. Each one is outside a little house. When your group gets near each house the cowardly lion, tin man, scarecrow or wicked witch come out and lip sync a song and dance. You end up in a commons area with a big stage and benches for you to sit on. At scheduled times the story is finished on the stage with Dorothy, the lion, tin man and scarecrow meeting the wizard.
When I was in high school some of my friends got jobs playing some of these characters. During the school year the theme park would only be open on the weekends. Sometimes my friends would come to school on Monday with traces of the makeup they used that they didn't get off.
We get the word "hypocrite" from actors as seen in the following:
HYPOCRITE
corresponding to the above, primarily denotes one who answers; then, a stage-actor; it was a custom for Greek and Roman actors to speak in large masks with mechanical devices for augmenting the force of the voice; hence the word became used metaphorically of a dissembler, a hypocrite. It is found only in the
Synoptists, and always used by the Lord, fifteen times in Matthew; elsewhere, Mark 7:6; Luke 6:42; 11:44 (in some mss.); 12:56; 13:15. [1]
Jesus came against hypocrites. These were the religious leaders of the day that thought they were living the right life but they were fooling themselves and just playing a role like my friends at the theme park. There are many today that call themselves Christians but are that in name only. They are only playing the part. On the outside they may look like Christians but they have never surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ.
We cannot know the true person:
"The Lord doesn't make decisions the way you do! People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at a person's thoughts and intentions." (1 Samuel 16:7b
NLT) [2]
If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, do it now and stop playing a role. You might fool people but you cannot fool
God.
By Dean W. Masters
Unedited redistribution approved
[1]Vine, W., & Bruce, F. 1981; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996. Vine's Expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words.
Revell: Old Tappan NJ
[2] Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997. Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.