14 February 2024 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
Ash Wednesday
You could make a case that by the logic of the Sermon on the Mount, public displays of religious faith and devotion, all acts of evangelism, are off limits.
“When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matthew 6:3).
“When you pray, go to your inner room and close the door” (6:6).
When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting” (6:17-18).
By that logic, don’t ever pray in public, don’t ever even pray out loud; don’t ever preach in public; don’t do public acts of service; don’t ever go to public worship. Surely one of your motivations in doing all those things is to be seen by others, and that is not what God wants. Jesus said.
So I am just going to pray in the silence of my own head, because praying out loud so people can hear is not what God wants. Jesus said. And I am just going to think compassionate thoughts about people in need, because giving public assistance that people can see is not what God wants. Jesus said. And I am going to worship in the privacy of my own house, and the privacy of my own head, because preaching, evangelism, and public worship services are not what God wants. Jesus said.
Hallelujah! Let all the people who want to be Christians and not ever have to say or do a thing about it say, “Amen.”
That logic, of course, would make nonsense of all the work of St. Paul, all the efforts of groups like Catholic Charities, all ministries of evangelization, pretty much the whole public ministry of Jesus, and all of the testimony of the Bible. The work of the Church, the work of faith is to be seen by others, must be seen by others, or it is pointless, and completely ineffective. In fact, we are told that if we don’t bear public witness, and people don’t hear about Jesus, and don’t repent, the loss of those people to heaven is our fault. No public witness means hell (see Ezekiel 3:18-19).
Yet Jesus also says, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them” (6:1). Danger both ways.
Public witness means risking your life.
There is danger in public witness. People who pray well, or preach well, or write well, people who are compassionate, hard-working, and generous will sometimes, hopefully often, be praised and admired. That kind of affirmation feels good and is motivating. If more people praise and admire our good works, then more people may do them, right? And that’s what we want, right? Are we only being faithful if no one notices what we are doing, or even actively oppose us? That sounds just a little absurd.
But it can be hard to tell sometimes if we are doing the right things because they are the right things, or because other people praise and admire them. Sometimes people admire hell.
That is why we need time, a lot of time, alone with God in prayer, alone with God reading holy scripture, alone with God simply adoring His presence and perfection. The only way we can be sure what our purposes are is if we are never thinking about them, but only about God’s purposes as He reveals them in prayer and in the Bible. That is what Jesus meant when he said that we only find our truest selves when we lose them in the vision of God: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). It is what St. Paul meant when he said, “Pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). Only that kind of attention to God can purify our intentions.
There is danger in public witness. There is only hell without public witness. Managing the danger takes some serious time alone with God.
It is the only sensible way to risk your life.
Comments