Week 3 Problematize: A Raisin in the Sun (Act II)

In our reading for class tomorrow, A Raisin in the Sun Act II, I passed by a sentence that have challenged me, and I am sure challenges us, and our culture at SEU.

On page 1666, Beneatha answers her mother as she asked if the man from the “welcoming committee” had threatened them, “He said everybody ought to learn how to sit down and hate each other with good Christian fellowship.”

My question is, Is that true about our lives? Are we ”sitting down and hating each other with good Christian fellowship”?

This challenged me to search my own heart, then ask God to show me where I may have been a hypocrite towards someone.  I know the word “hypocrite” sounds harsh, but it is truly what that behavior is. Hypocrite is one who acts out something that is not true about him. We could even say that hypocrite is an actor. The weight of that word in Christian culture is very heavy due to the fact that Jesus has condemned hypocrisy more than any other sin. Not that the other sins are not condemnable. As we read, according to the Lord Jesus himself, on Revelations 22:14,15 :

“Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

So, we are assured that anyone who lives in the practice of other sins will also be condemned to hell or the lake of fire. But, still hypocrisy seems to be a very disgusting sin due to the fact that the Pharisees were harshly rebuked by the Lord so many times because of their hypocrisy. Through those rebukes we find that hypocrisy is the root of all kinds of other sins, as the Lord Jesus mentioned over and over to the Pharisees in Matthew 23, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!...” And every time He mentioned it, he named something different they were doing wrong.

The question for us is, are we hypocrites? Do we pretend to love one another and in our hearts we hate each other? Or, do we hate anyone and pretend to love them?

If so, may we repent and go to the Lord in prayer and ask him for His forgiveness.

P.S.: I quickly would like to make an observation, just so we don’t miss out this opportunity to be challenged. In order for us to be forgiven by the Lord, it is very important that we repent first. As it is written in Acts 3:19, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” Repent literally means to turn around. We must honestly understand what we did was wrong, make our mind to never do it again, and do what it takes to prevent from doing it again. Of course that must come from a genuine desire to turn around. It doesn’t always happen naturally, in that case we must ask the Lord to help us to repent and then ask Him to forgive us. This we see in the Bible many times when the Lord had forgiven someone. They truly realized what they did was wrong and did not want to do it again anymore, wether they said or not, their hearts had turned from their sin.

May God bless us all!

"Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to [our] father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."
Luke 3:8