Pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly

 

 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. "

* * * 

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

 

- Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  On Saturday we read that Jesus taught:   "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.  You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." 

 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven."  As we begin chapter 6, and the next section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will present to us what my study Bible says are the three most basic aspects of spiritual living:  charitable giving, prayer, and fasting.  These three disciples, it says, relate directly to God's righteousness.  

"Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."  The original meaning of the word "hypocrite" was actor, as in the ancient plays in which every actor would wear a mask to indicate the character they were interpreting.  My study Bible comments that hypocrites are play-actors practicing piety for show, desiring to please human beings rather than God.  They wear masks of compassion, but internally they are heartless.  Their reward is applause from men, but nothing more.

"But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."  My study Bible says that God is not impressed with what others think of us, nor by what we think of ourselves.  God will reward good deeds when they are based on pure motives of the heart.  

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."  The hypocrites miss the spirit of prayer, which my study Bible says is an intimate, personal communion with God that leads to the vision of God's glory (1 Corinthians 2:9).  Hypocrisy effectively blocks out this communication and this vision.  True prayer, my study Bible says, is humble (go into your room) and personal (pray to your Father).  Note the deeply personal nature of the prayer Jesus recommends here; the emphasis is on the authenticity of internal life, not external show.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."  My study Bible comments that to keep a sad countenance to show off one's fasting (or to show off any other form of sacrifice that one does nominally for a "good" purpose) is mere external display.  Again, Jesus rejects this as hypocrisy.  Although fasting is not commonly well-understood today, especially in the West, it remains a tradition of the Church, and is also widely practiced elsewhere and among other religious traditions as well.  Fasting practices vary from place to place (thus, it is not about "rules"), but they generally focus on abstinence from animal foods or those derived from animals; a strict fast might include abstinence from eggs and dairy.  For the one who fasts, my study Bible says, the compassion of God outshines the physical discomfort.  There are hymns of the traditional fasting season in the Orthodox Church that call on the faithful to wash and anoint their faces (there is no Ash Wednesday in the Orthodox Church).  Fasting is for spiritual growth and the glory of God, not to be seen by others.  It is important to know that fasting is not simply abstinence from food, but consists of self-denial in all areas of life in order to escape control of the passions.  For example, a famous sermon by St. Chrysostom asks us, "What good is it if we abstain from eating birds and fish, but bite and devour our brothers?"

In today's reading, Jesus focuses on three aspects of the practice of faith:  charitable giving, prayer, and fasting.  These are three traditional aspects of disciplines of faith.  There is one thing which His comments have in common on each of these subjects, and that is the very personal nature of our devotion to God.  It is this emphasis on the personal and intimate that draws away a tendency to practice hypocrisy, and instead gives us a focus on a true intimate relatedness to God.  He emphasizes with each theme that our "good deeds" must be done in secret, and that God sees in secret.  This word translated as secret is κρυπτός/kryptos, meaning "hidden," or "concealed," something that is veiled to others.  St. Peter uses this same word (κρυπτός/kryptos) when he writes of "the hidden person of the heart" (see 1 Peter 3:3-4) in his own teaching with emphasis on what is internal, and rejection of external show.  Each time Jesus focuses on a religious practice, He speaks of "your Father who sees in secret."  For His teachings here on both prayer and fasting, He adds that our "Father who sees in secret" is also our "Father who is in the secret place."   All of this points not simply to the importance of eliminating hypocrisy in our practices for the good, for serving God, but also indicates the mystical or hidden nature of faith, and the "hidden person of the heart," as St. Peter's puts it, who must seek out God in secret, and whom God seeks out in secret.  When Jesus says to go into your room, the text has a special word for a special room.  It indicated an inner room in a house where one's treasure and valuables might be stored; in modern Greek speech, this word (ταμεῖόν/tameion) is now used for "cash register."  It makes us think twice about Jesus' saying just a few verses further along in the Sermon on the Mount, that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).  This emphasis on the hiddenness of the heart, on the Father who is also in the secret place, and who sees in secret, teaches us about the faith of Christ, in which God is worshiped in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24) -- and not for the show of others, or an external mask we wear for applause.  In today's world, social media has permeated seemingly every aspect of our lives; there is an extraordinary amount of emphasis on what mask we wear -- what our "selfies" and other things we post on social media tell others about our lives.  Even what is nominally true is only a partial picture, and therefore the emphasis again is on a mask, a role we are playing, and what kind of feedback or applause we seek for this.  Certainly the designers of social apps have always understood this (see this article, for example).  But ironically, we have also seen the negative outcome of the drive for attention:  motivated by loneliness, a need for a connection with others, or the desire to make a particular impression, social media use instead manages to reinforce negative images of the self compared to others (especially in young woman), depression, and a sense of isolation.  Christ's emphasis on meeting God in the secret place, on God as the One who sees in secret, and our own interior lives hidden from others, is a way to bypass such a ruthless cycle of destructive patterns of behavior.  What we find in that interior place that does not rely on the feedback of others is not only a sense of love and care in the encounter with God in faith, but also a letting go of the things we think we have to be or to have.  All of these practices, of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting, tend to emphasize the bedrock of who we are internally, and lead us to start to understand our real needs, and especially the things we can let go when we find that security in God.  Do we need every fancy food?  Can we live without some amount of wealth that can help others?  Does our prayer life really take us away from something more important?  Moreover, they enforce for us that we can find great discipline, and are capable of the strength to make even difficult choices.  Let us get down to what is real, and find our faith in what truly matters.  Let us value what we're offered in all of these practices that can help us so much, and which remain an antidote to the ills and delusions of the world.