I’m sure many of you are familiar with one of the most famous battles in American history—George Washington’s attack on Trenton, New Jersey on Christmas day, 1776. What you probably remember about this story is from this portrait—Washington and his men crossing the icy Delaware. Although this famous dramatization is fixed in many people’s minds as being emblematic of our victory over the British, I want to tell you a story about what was really happening on that day.

Since the beginning of the Revolutionary War, things had not been going well. Although today we look back at George Washington as one of the most amazing generals in the history of the United States, the truth is that he was not a brilliant military tactician. Washington only had a third grade education and, under his leadership, the Revolutionary army had lost New York City and other strategic points in the region. As the winter weather set in, Washington’s troops were run down, hungry, and dejected.

Washington had been meticulously planning this attack for some time on the German forces who were aiding the British in their attacks. Washington decided to attack on Christmas because it would be unexpected. According to normal military decorum, there was an unspoken agreement that battles are not fought on religious holidays. The hope was to raid the Hessian camps and catch them by surprise.

As Washington and his troops were moving to get into place, the weather began to deteriorate rapidly. The temperature began to drop and snow was falling. The movement of his troops slowed to a crawl and before he knew it, he was three hours behind schedule and half of his troops hadn’t even made it to the rendezvous point. On top of this the Delaware River was full of ice, which meant getting the troops back across was becoming increasingly dangerous.

This carefully well-crafted plan was literally falling apart before his eyes. On top of this, what Washington didn’t know is that two of his soldiers had defected and warned the Hessian’s of Washington’s impending attack. The leader of the German regiment, Col. Johann Rall, welcomed the fight stating “Let them come… Why defenses? We will go at them with the bayonet.” The Hessians (today we would call them Germans) were expertly trained soldiers, so Washington was walking into a death trap.

Washington surveyed his troops and realized the odds were not in his favor. In fact, most people viewing the situation objectively would have retreated. Instead, Washington made the impulsive decision to forge ahead knowing this could be the end of his army. Indeed, it would have been the end had it not been for a bit of luck. The freezing temperatures and massive snowfall convinced Col. Rall that Washington was no longer coming. What General in his right mind would fight under these conditions?

And he was right, no General in his right mind would have fought under those conditions. Fortunately, for the Revolutionary army, Washington was not in his right mind. Col. Rall told his men they were permitted to celebrate Christmas, so they retreated inside of their tents to bundle up and began drinking copious amounts of alcohol. The fact that Washington was delayed by 3 hours meant that most of the Hessian army was passed out cold by the time Washington arrived, which made them easy targets. The Americans only lost 4 men and captured 1000 members of the Hessian army.

From a strategic standpoint, this win meant very little, but it accomplished two important things. First, it greatly boosted the morale of the American colonists and the Revolutionary Army. Second, Washington realized that the only way that his army was going to be effective against the British was if he continually used surprise attacks and unconventional tactics.

For instance, after this win, rather than having his soldiers fight in a line, which was customary of armies at the time, he instructed his soldiers to utilize guerilla tactics. Washington’s soldiers would hide in bushes, trees, houses, whatever they could find to camouflage their presence. The British, who had only fought using traditional war tactics, didn’t know how to respond. They felt it was inappropriate for soldiers to leave their lines and, as a result, they were sitting ducks. The British were getting sniped left and right until eventually, as we all know, they packed up and went home.

Why have I told you this story? Although this moment is commonly portrayed as being this ingenious move on the part of Washington, the truth is Washington was backed into a corner. This moment that changed the history of our nation was based on an irrationality and impulsivity that could have easily resulted in a decisive blow to the Revolutionary army.

It was only the fact that Col. Rall assumed that Washington would be consistent with other Generals in his position and not jeopardize the safety of his troops that it worked out. George Washington is emblematic of a lot of decisions we make in life. We plan, we gather information, we use methodical reasoning, but when it comes down to the moment where we have to make a decision, all of that goes out the window. We choose our path based on our feelings, where we are in the moment, which might be remarkably inconsistent with what logic would dictate or what we’ve done in the past.

Indeed, humans do this so often that it can be said that our inconsistency is the most consistent thing about us. We are all driven by our emotions, but we like to present an image that we are in control and remarkably consistent. Sometimes it works out, like it did for George Washington. Very often it does not. My parents are great examples of this. When I was growing up, I was struck by the dichotomy of the image my family presented to people outside of our home and what we actually experienced behind closed doors.

Whenever we were in public, I noticed that my mom and dad had a certain image that they upheld. Their public persona was cool, collected, intelligent, and kind. To the outside world, they were a successful couple with successful children. Their private persona was quite different. They would yell and scream at each other. My mother could be downright cruel to me and my sisters. And as I got older, this double life became glaringly hypocritical.

By the time I was a teenager, being in public with my parents was excruciating, not because they embarrassed me, but because I wanted to scream out, “Are you really falling for this? Do you know how they are at home? Do you know how they treat me?” In public they were like George Washington planning for the Christmas Eve attack. In private, they were like George Washington after getting caught in a blizzard.

Jesus talks about this dichotomy in the scripture we read this morning from Matthew where he says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.” This is an amazing metaphor. Jesus is saying you can look beautiful and clean and stunning on the outside, but inside, you’re essentially dead. And I will tell you that I have found this to be true in my life. The people who look the most put together on the outside are usually the most empty on the inside.

Jesus tells us that cleaning the outside is not going to result in the inside being clean. In fact, it’s just the opposite. If you want to have beautiful, clean external life, then you need to begin with the inside first: “For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence…First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean.” When you only improve the outside, when you only improve the things that people can see and you neglect improving yourself internally, then you become a hypocrite.

The word hypocrite was originally used in Greek theater and literally means ‘to wear masks’ because the actors would wear masks when performing on stage. The idea was that through wearing the mask, you hide your true self and become somebody else. Although today the word hypocrite is considered an insult, originally the word had no negative connotations. Jesus is the first person to attach a negative connotation to the word hypocrite. Jesus is saying that a hypocrite is a person who wears a mask to hide the true person underneath.

The way you avoid being a hypocrite is by being authentic. You should not be one way with one person and another way with a different person. You always need to be you because when you wear masks, when you hide a part of yourself, it creates a dissonance in who you are as a person. There’s a constant tension between the person who you’re portraying and the way you actually feel on the inside. I feel like if my mother had simply been honest out in public, telling her friends about the challenges and difficulties of how much she was struggling to raise three kids, then she might have been able to become whole and get her anger under control.

I think so many of Jesus’ teachings are geared towards helping us to become authentic people. This is why Jesus says, make your yes be yes and your no be no. We often interpret this verse as Jesus telling us we need to stick to our word. When you say you’ll do something, follow through. Which is not an inaccurate interpretation. But there’s a whole other layer to this scripture. Jesus is telling us not just to be honest with our words, but to be honest with ourselves.

And when you own your faults and your flaws, when you are truly authentic, only then will your interior life match your exterior life. Only by bringing them to the surface can you then bridge the divide between the person who you are and the person you want to become. This a big part of what it means to be a Christian. By owning the inconsistency and allowing Jesus to open us to authenticity, is Jesus able to heal the chaos inside of you so that you can be made whole.

In this way, the true beauty of Jesus’ birth is the way that his birth and life shines a light on the dark places of our soul. In my opinion, this is the reason why Jesus’ birth matters so very much. Jesus is authentic and all he asks of his disciples is authenticity. When you really invest in his path, when you really follow his way of life, he takes all that inconsistency inside of us, and blends the inside with the outside. He forces us to remove the mask and be our authentic true genuine selves.

The real problem with how we are consistently inconsistent is that it prevents us from being honest with ourselves. So as we prepare for the coming of Jesus on Christmas day, for the birth of this amazing baby boy, let our yes be yes to removing our masks so that the person we are on the inside can match the person we are on the outside. We look forward to seeing you on Christmas Eve when we celebrate the birth of our savior. Amen.