Matthew 6:1 (Message translation)  Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it.  It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

Today’s Gospel reading comes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), specifically where Jesus teaches about almsgiving, prayer and fasting.  Many faiths recognize the importance of these three practices, so Jesus was not introducing new concepts to His listeners.  The crowd likely was familiar with individuals who performed these religious responsibilities as self-aggrandizing public demonstrations. 

To be clear, Jesus was not telling his audience (which includes us) to avoid the religious deeds associated with these public practitioners.  Quite the opposite.  Notice that He said “when,” not “if,” you do these things, underscoring that these are important areas in which we should all be engaged.  Matthew Henry* observed that these verses highlight “three Christian duties” by which “we do homage and service to God with our three principal interests; by prayer with our souls, by fasting with our bodies, by almsgiving with our estates” or material resources.  Seen in the context of Matthew 5:17, Jesus did not abolish the laws related to charity, prayer and fasting, He offered a fuller understanding of how they should be applied.  Jesus had warned (Matthew 5:20) “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” so perhaps today’s Gospel verses describe the Pharisaical level of righteousness – one in which religious deeds are performed for personal glory – to be surpassed.

So how can we do charity, prayer and fasting better than the performers Jesus criticized?  I like the Message translation’s treatment of our Gospel reading, which repeatedly emphasizes the importance of “quietly and unobtrusively” engaging in charity, prayer and fasting, all the while resisting the temptation to “make a production” out of what we do.  Instead, do good “to glorify our heavenly Father,” as Matthew 5:16 tells us.  In addition, act lovingly, since I Corinthians 13 reminds us of the nothingness associated when love is absent, even if we speak (and pray publicly) like angels or give all our possessions to feed the poor.

When I stop to think about it – and I too often have to stop and think about it – all of these practices are very, very good for us individually.  Charity, as our first reading from the Apostle Paul points out, enriches us “in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God.”  When we “practice some appetite-denying discipline” (as the Message describes fasting), we can “better concentrate on God.”  Prayer I saved for last.  Think how wonderful is the type of private, secluded, intimate encounter with God that Jesus directed.  No one else is listening, so you can reveal your deepest fears, your most unpleasant thoughts, your most embarrassing actions.  You don’t have to say anything because the Holy Spirit already knows what you ought to pray and intercedes for you (Romans 8:26-27).  Then, and this is my favorite part (from the Message), “the focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace.”  How great is that?

May all you do be filled with love and be done for the greater glory of God.
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* Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a British Nonconformist minister best remembered for his six-volume commentary on the Scriptures.