A Trained Professional I: All The World’s A Stage

This will be the first post of many in a new series. It will be on occupations and what the Scripture says about those trades and vocations. When I say jobs I mean employment, work or a person's productive role in society as a whole. They may be things done or performed in exchange for payment or some form of monetary compensation. Sometimes not. Usually they are skilled at what they do...sometimes not. These posts will abbreviated, not comprehensive. I am trying to do them in alphabetical order. First on deck is an Actor…

All the world’s a stage;

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts.

William Shakespeare

It is unusual I suppose to find that some of the harshest criticism Jesus levels on anyone is reserved for the Pharisees. He essentially called them actors. Well, not exactly. In reality he called them hypocrites. Hypocrites ὑποκριτής/hupokrites in the original Greek denoted one who answers; or a stage actor. Why? Greek and then Roman actor's custom was to speak in large masks with mechanical devices for augmenting the volume of their voices. The masks also made the expressions more exaggerated in different roles. For example in tragedies the masks were to seem lifelike since the emotions are very real. The expressions on masks were to solicit emotions from the crowds. The Greek masks also allowed people farther away from the stage to still see the expressions. They helped the actors by allowing them to play different roles and even different genders.

Literally to be a hypocrite was to be one who speaks under a mask or, two-faced. Therefore the mask and its larger voice did not necessarily reflect the personality of the person beneath it or their real unamplified voice. Yet the person under the mask is participating in a dialogue and playing a part that isn’t necessarily who they really are. Fakers or pretenders you would say. In Luke it is a person who fakes virtue and it is this connotation that Jesus uses of the Pharisees.

Luke 20:20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended (hypokrinomenous) to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Hypocrite is a word specifically used of someone playing a part or roll. In places like Mark 7:6 it is literally used to indicate deliberate deception of which the actor themselves may not be aware of.

Mark 7:6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…

It is here in this passage of Mark that we see that the hypocrite plays the part of ‘religious/religion’ whether it is intentional or not. That is ironic because it is the Pharisees that should be the most devout but in the context Jesus is speaking they are actors not religious leaders. The Pharisees appeared before men as they ought but to Jesus it was clear they were merely acting. Jesus therefore ‘unmasks’ their duplicity. Their acts of contrition are therefore that much more vile once exposed for what they were. Charlatans.

Matthew 6:16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

So, in reality, to act means to feign or fake reality. The Bible certainly shows us some really good actors besides the Pharisees also. Take Jacob for instance. He imitated his brother Esau to trick his father into giving his birthright in Genesis 25. In Genesis 42 we see the story of Joseph.

Genesis 42:7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

Then there was David who, while before Achish pretended to be insane in 1 Samuel 21.

If we move to the New Testament we see the greatest deceit in history in the persona of Judas Iscariot. Judas of course did not fool the Lord but everyone else was fooled including Judas himself up to the point where he decided to betray Christ. This deceit is made even more obscene When Judas feigns affection to Christ by kissing him to identify him to the Jewish authorities.

The ultimate irony being that many Christians are still referred to as hypocrites today. Why? Because they are not living according to the standard they are saying. They’re speaking out from under a mask and projecting an image of Christianity that is not real. It is an act. The most recent stories of Ravi Zacharias and Carl Lentz should give us pause. Christianity requires that we live out our faith…not just tell others how to live. We lead and teach through our example. The words need to also be reflected in our actions. Any discontinuity between our words and our actions shows an obvious disconnect. Like a mask apart from our face. That disconnect is either deliberate or not deliberate. If deliberate it is purposeful deception. If inadvertent it is deception in that we are deceiving ourselves in our own ignorance. Ignorance of the law is no excuse they say. These acts of deception are not a reflection of the Spirit that should be abiding in us…rather something else completely. The greatest actors of all: Sin and the demonic.

When it comes to acting purely as a vocation though we see it mentioned indirectly in only one place: Ephesus in Asia Minor. We see a solitary mention of a theater in Ephesus.

Acts 19:29-31 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater.

The Greeks and the Romans loved their plays and theater. These ancient theaters were often used for gathering places for things other than acting just as school auditoriums and stages are today. The theater as mentioned in Acts 19 was a semi-circle configuration with seats arranged in tiers one upon another just as today. The stage would’ve been a raised platform (things like props were hidden underneath)…just like real life hides things from our view until God puts them in our vision or our path. The remaining three sides would’ve been walled in. We can see from the Acts 19 passage that they were big enough to contain a ‘crowd’ or ‘mob’ that rushed Paul’s companions.

It is interesting to note that the Greek word for the spectacle of the theater was ὄψις/opsis (same root as optic) and actually meant the spectacle or an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Paul knew that Christians were always going to be on display and how we acted and behaved even under duress was going to be part of our message as Christians to the world. We would be scrutinized under a microscope. The world would always be looking at us with a raised eyebrow waiting to lob the verbal grenade of *hypocrite* on our laps to try and discredit us. So, in a way, to a Christian…all of the world is a stage.

1 Corinthians 4:9 "For I think, God has exhibited us, the apostles, last of all as men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to mankind."

The thing is though…none of this is an act for a real Christian…it’s the real deal. And those grenades….some of them are meant to wound and destroy. We must always be on our guard and on our best game.