Lenten Perspective: To Shine, or Not to Shine?

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To Shine, or Not to Shine?

Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:1 (NRSV)

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You
It's all about You, Jesus

From "The Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman

As I noted almost a year ago, the four Scripture readings assigned for Ash Wednesday by the Revised Common Lectionary are the same every year.  The Gospel reading is excerpted from the Sermon on the Mount, a series of teachings Jesus shares with His followers in the Gospel of Matthew.  I've decided to take a second look at this particular reading at the beginning of this Lenten season, since I've been spending a lot of time with the Sermon on the Mount lately.

Jesus has begun His sermon with some announcements of blessing upon people who would not normally be considered blessed in this world.  He has told His followers that they are both the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world" and has urged them to maintain their saltiness and shine brightly.  He has explained that that He has come to fulfill the instructions of the Law and the exhortations of the prophets, and He has gone on to do so by getting to the heart of the matter in regards to all religious instructions.¹

Now Jesus begins to address how His followers should conduct themselves regarding their acts of piety and charity.  Speaking generally, He says, "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven."²

Jesus goes on to give His followers some examples, specifically in regards to charitable giving, prayer, and fasting.  First, He says, "Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you...  But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing..."  Next, He says, "Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret..."  Finally, He says, "Whenever you fast, do not look dismal...  But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face..."³  Basically, Jesus is instructing His followers to be discrete or even secretive as they go about their acts of piety and charity.

These instructions seem to be somewhat at odds with something Jesus said earlier in His sermon.  After Jesus told His followers that they are the "light of the world," He said to them, "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."⁴  So does Jesus want us to allow other people to witness our good deeds, or does He want us to do them in secret?

Because the Bible is a collection of works written by numerous authors over a span of hundreds of years, we can expect to find some contradictory statements within it.  That said, I don't think we expect to find them within the same sermon!

Maybe there is some truth to be found in the tension.

When Jesus instructs His followers to practice their piety and charity discretely, He repeatedly urges them not to be like "the hypocrites" who want to be seen and admired by others.⁵  The word hypocrite is derived from the Greek word hupokritēs which is used to describe an actor.⁶  Actors, as we all know, make a living pretending to be people they are not.  The hypocrites of whom Jesus speaks do good deeds as a means of putting on a performance for others, not unlike an actor performing in a film or a play.  Their actions lack authenticity.  Repeatedly Jesus says that, when such people are seen doing good works, "they have received their reward."⁷

Jesus tells His followers that, when they do good deeds in secret, the God "who sees in secret" will reward them.⁸  When we do good deeds in order to get attention from other people, the attention we receive will be all we get from the experience.  Doing good deeds without the intention of being seen by other people can bring its own reward.  Helping someone in need without an audience gives us the opportunity to make a personal connection with another person; praying by ourselves gives us the opportunity to spend some time alone with our Creator; and fasting without trying to be seen for it frees us up to focus on God and to look inward.

That said, if other people see us praying, helping others, or fasting, they just might be inspired to do the same.  In this case, allowing other people to see our acts of piety and charity would actually be a good thing.  By allowing our lights to shine before other people we are inspiring them to glorify God by shining brightly themselves.

To shine, or not to shine, that is the question.

Maybe we need to consider why we do the things we do.  Are we authentically shining brightly so that we may bring glory to God, or are we merely putting on a show for other people in order to bring attention to ourselves?

I wonder if maybe Jesus is actually sharing two different messages for two different kinds of people.  Maybe He wants those among His followers who tend to be more timid to learn to shine brightly before others.  Maybe, at the same time, He wants those among His followers who tend to be more showy with what they do to learn to dial things down a bit so that, as they stop trying to get attention from the people they want to impress, they can give more attention to God and to people in need.  Knowing which message one needs to follow at any given time will require self-awareness and honesty.

The season of Lent, which began just a few days ago, is a time meant for introspection and penitence.  During this season, as we examine what we do, may we also examine why we do what we do.  If we find ourselves wanting to be noticed by other people, may we consider why we want to be noticed.


Notes:

1. Matthew 5:1-48
2. Matthew 6:1 (NRSV)
3. Matthew 6:2-3, 6, 16-17 (NRSV)
4. Matthew 5:16 (NRSV)
5. Matthew 6:2, 5, 16
6. Wiktionary: "Hypocrite"
7. Matthew 6:2, 5, 16 (NRSV)
8. Matthew 6:4, 6, 18 (NRSV)

The Sermon on the Mount was painted by Carl Heinrich Bloch in 1877.

Introspection: To Preach, or Not to Preach?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
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To Preach, or Not to Preach?

Some certainly preach Christ with jealous and competitive motives, but others preach with good motives...

What do I think about this?  Just this: since Christ is proclaimed in every possible way, whether from dishonest or true motives, I'm glad and I'll continue to be glad.

Philippians 1:15, 18 (CEB)

For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for

From "From Now On" by Pasek and Paul

If you know me personally or if you have been following this blog for a while, then you might know that I am a certified Lay Speaker in my denomination.  In other words, I am certified to fill in for pastors on Sunday mornings when needed.  One could say that I am essentially a "substitute preacher."  Earlier this year, during the season of Eastertide, I went on a short "preaching tour."  For the three Sundays after Easter, I delivered three different sermons at three different churches, starting with the church I regularly attend.

I enjoy preparing sermons, preaching, and visiting different churches, but, after preaching for three Sundays in a row, I was ready to take a break.  Additional opportunities to preach came up, but, for a number of reasons, I wasn't very eager to accept them.  As I've already noted, I needed a break.  Preparing sermons takes time, and, since I already have a full-time job, it can be rather costly for me.  Also, during the summer months, I opted to work four ten-hour workdays per week so that I could take Fridays off, and I didn't really want to spend my days off preparing sermons.  I've also been rather angry about certain things going on within my denomination.

All that said, there were some other reasons that I was hesitant to preach again.

During my "preaching tour" this spring, I noticed something about myself, specifically that I tend to that I tend to use a lot of showbusiness language in reference to my preaching.  I tend to refer to the times I'm scheduled to preach as "gigs."  When one pastor asked me to preach on a particular Sunday, I told him that I was already "booked."  I've even caught myself thinking about the time a church service starts as "showtime."

It might also be worth noting that, to psyche myself up before I preach, I listen to songs from The Greatest Showman on the way to the church.

Basically, I started to wonder if I really am a preacher or if I'm really just a performer.

As I noted a few years ago, I sometimes experience a sense of trepidation before I preach or at least some cognitive dissonance.  Sometimes I feel like I am not the right person to do the things I do in the church.  I'm painfully aware that I am not the Christian exemplar one would expect the person behind the preacher's podium to be.  Sometimes I doubt the messages I deliver.  For example, early in the morning before I delivered the sermon at my home church, I lay in bed wondering why I ever thought the clustercuss of a sermon I had written was a good idea.  Sometimes I wonder if I really preach from my heart or if I just happen to know the right things to say.  I want to offer people hope when I preach, but I often find that I am not living with the kind of hope I want to offer people.

One day back in the spring, I remembered that, when I was a little boy, my grandfather built a small podium for me.  I asked my mother if the reason he built me the podium was because I wanted to be a preacher even then.  She reminded me that back then I wanted to be a game show host.  It seems that I've always wanted to be some sort of performer or public figure.  Maybe preaching and leading worship is the only way I've found to perform for an audience.

One of the sermons I preached during Eastertide was based on the story of the apostle Peter, who at one point denied knowing Jesus.  The main point of the sermon was that we must not allow ourselves to give into the temptation to give up when we've failed.  I began this sermon with a story about the founder of my particular branch of Christianity.  In the 1730s, John Wesley, a priest in the Church of England, traveled to the Georgia colony in order to be a minister to the colonists and a missionary to the natives.  He later returned to England as an utter failure.¹

One day, Wesley told his friend Peter Boehler, a Moravian priest, that he was going to quit preaching because he wasn't sure he had any faith left.  Boehler replied, "Preach faith till you have it; then, because you have it, you will preach faith."²

Even though I did not share any personal stories in this sermon, I still considered it a very personal one, because I've come to understand the stories of Peter and Wesley in light of my own past temptations to give up when I felt like I failed God.  I also happen to take comfort in Boehler's advice to Wesley regarding preaching.  Though I struggle to live like I believe the things I preach, my sermons are not empty words, for I do aspire to live like I believe them.  I might not always feel that I personally possess the hope I want to offer people, especially after the last couple of years, but, if I keep offering people hope through my sermons, I might someday find myself living with that hope.

In mid July, I finally accepted another opportunity to preach.  I suspect that I might be the go-to guy for one of the pastors in my area when he needs someone to fill in for him, and I wanted to continue being the person he calls.  As I prepared my sermon, the Scripture passage I had chosen did a number on me.  I saw myself in a very foolish individual in one of Jesus' parables, and I was forced to reconsider how I've been living my life.

I have decided that I will keep preaching, despite my trepidations.  I'll keep preaching because, even if I am more of a performer than a preacher, I might as well perform for a higher purpose.  I'll keep preaching because, if God does indeed give me messages to share with others, I had better share them.  I'll keep preaching because, if I keep sharing hopeful messages with others, I just might become a more hopeful person.  I'll keep preaching because someone out there just might need to hear the sermons I write as much as I need to hear them.


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It.  2014, Abingdon Press.  pp. 62-67
2. Hamilton, p. 69

The photograph of the lectern was taken by Ib Rasmussen, who has released it to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Lenten Perspective: Sinners and Hypocrites

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Sinners and Hypocrites

When some of the legal experts from among the Pharisees saw that [Jesus] was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples, "Why is he eating with sinners and tax collectors?"

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Healthy people don't need a doctor, but sick people do.  I didn't come to call righteous people, but sinners."

Mark 2:16-17 (CEB)

Come, ye weary, heavy laden
Lost and ruined by the fall
If you tarry till you're better
You will never come at all

From "Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy" by Joseph Hart

Toward the beginning of the First Letter of John, we read,
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.¹

If you're like me, then your first impulse, when reading this passage, is to read light as "goodness" and darkness as "sin."  When read in such a away, the writer's initial statement tells us that God is pure goodness and that in God there is no sin.  Obviously that part of the passage seems correct, but, if we continue reading the passage in such a way, it tells us that, if we are sinful, then we are essentially alienated from God and that, if we want to have any kind of relationship with God, then we need to be cleansed of our sin.

It is commonly said among Christians that "God cannot look upon sin."  In my opinion, this statement just doesn't seem to ring true in light of what we read in the Gospel story.  It is also, I think, problematic and illogical.  If God is as allergic to sin as so many Christians make God out to be, then Jesus never could have lived on the Earth, a planet full of sinners, because, as He said, He and God are one.²

Have you ever noticed that, in the Gospel story, Jesus seems to get along with so-called "sinners" a lot better than He gets along with the supposedly good, upstanding religious folk?

One day, a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus on a stretcher.  Jesus tells the paralyzed man that his sins are forgiven and then proceeds to restore his ability to walk.  Some religious scholars who are present accuse Jesus of blasphemy, because only God can forgive sins.³  Later on, Jesus meets a tax collector named Levi and calls him to be one of His disciples.⁴  Jesus' calling a tax collector is remarkable, because tax collectors are among the most notorious sinners of the day.  They are considered traitors to their own people and supporters of an evil empire.  That evening, Jesus enjoys dinner with Levi and some of his fellow tax collectors, and the religious leaders wonder why Jesus would associate with such people.⁵

 

Jesus, the Son of God, is eager to announce the forgiveness of sins, showing that God is eager to forgive sins, yet the religious leaders apparently want to create barriers to absolution.

Jesus, the Son of God, is happy to associate with known sinners, yet the religious leaders want to ostracize them.

It seems to me that it is not God but rather the religious leaders who cannot look upon sin.

The religious leaders of Jesus' day want to believe that they are righteous, but, in reality, they aren't any less sinful than anyone else.  They might act as if they are "holier than thou," but they aren't really holier than anyone.  Their sin is their use of their positions in the religious establishment to prop themselves up and scapegoat other types of sinners, like tax collectors and prostitutes.  Basically, they are hypocrites.  The word hypocrite is derived from an ancient word that describes an actor, a person who makes a life of pretending to be someone the person is not.⁶

The so-called "sinners" of Jesus' day cannot deny that they are sinners, because they have been branded as such and ostracized by the religious leaders.  They are drawn to Jesus because He shows them the love and compassion the religious leaders have denied them.  Jesus is a lot more critical of the religious leaders, who seem to be in denial about their own sinfulness.

Jesus is a friend to sinners, but He is a bit less friendly toward hypocrites.

The First Letter of John continues, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."⁷  When we confess our sins to God, we are not telling God anything that God does not already know, because God knows everything about us.  Confessing our sins requires us to be honest with ourselves, but claiming that we are sinless requires us to have a severe case of denial.

I wonder if maybe, in this letter, light and darkness actually represent truth and deceit as opposed to goodness and sin.  In this case, the writer's initial message tells us that God is truth, and that, in God, there is no deceiving ourselves.  We depend on light for our sense of sight, because the only thing our eyes can actually sense is light.  Without light, nobody can see anything at all.  Similarly, without the light of truth, we cannot see ourselves for who we really are, and, if we don't want to see the truth about ourselves, we must dwell in the darkness of self-deception.

We are not expected to be sinless, but we are expected to be honest.

We are not being ordered to change so that we may have a relationship with God; we are being invited into a relationship with God in which we will be changed.  Being cleansed of our sin is not a prerequisite; it is a result.

Preacher Brian Zahnd suggested in a recent sermon that our sinfulness is less of a legal standing before God and more of a sickness of the soul, making Jesus less like a defense attorney and more like a doctor.⁸  When the religious leaders question why Jesus would associate with known sinners, Jesus replies, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."⁹  We cannot be healed if we are unwilling to admit that we are sick.

It is currently the beginning of the season of introspection and penitence known as Lent.  We all have parts of ourselves that we know are not as they should be.  During this season, may we be honest with ourselves about these things, knowing that, as sinners, we have a friend in Jesus.


Notes:

1. 1 John 1:5-7 (NRSV)
2. John 10:30
3. Mark 2:1-12
4. Mark 2:13-14
5. Mark 2:15-16
6. Wiktionary: "hypocrite"
7. 1 John 1:8-9 (NRSV)
8. Brian Zahnd.  "We Need a Healer."  Word of Life Church, 02/07/2021.
9. Mark 2:17 (NRSV)

The Calling of Matthew was painted by Jacob van Oost in the mid 1600s.

Perspective: Lessons from a Family Vineyard

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Lessons from a Family Vineyard

Hypocrites!  Isaiah really knew what he was talking about when he prophesied about you, This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me.

Matthew 15:7-8 (CEB)

To live the way that you believe
This is your opportunity
To let your life be one that lights the way

From "It's Your Life" by Francesca Battistelli

My personal Scripture reading plan tends to be rather repetitive.  Sometimes, when I look back in my journals, having encountered a particular passage or story numerous times over the years, I find that I have collected a number of different lessons from it.

One day, amid a rather heated argument with some religious leaders, Jesus told a story about a vineyard owner who had two sons.  He asked one of his sons to go out and work in the vineyard, but the son refused.  The son later had a change of heart, and he went out to work in the vineyard, despite what he had said to his father earlier.  The father also asked his other son to go out and work in the vineyard.  This son said, "Yes, sir," but he never actually did what he told his father he would do.¹

Jesus asked the religious leaders which of the two sons was obedient to his father.  They replied that the first son, the one who initially refused but later changed his mind, was the obedient one.

There are number of lessons we can glean from this relatively short parable.

One surface-level lesson we can learn from this parable is that it is better for a person to say no and then change her mind than to say yes and then fail to follow through with what she agreed to do.  We should always adequately think through commitments before we make them.  Perhaps sometimes we need to start at no in order to arrive at yes.

I think this parable is also a reminder that we need to be true to our word and to actually do what we say we will do.  Jesus once said, "Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no."²  In other words, we should strive to be people whose words can be trusted without our having to swear on a proverbial "stack of Bibles."  If we want to be people whose words are trustworthy, then we must take care that we only agree to do something if we actually intend to do it.  A sincere no is always better than an insincere or halfhearted yes.

Jesus, after telling His parable, said to the religious leaders, "I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God's kingdom ahead of you."  In the parable, the vineyard owner represents God, and working in the vineyard represents doing God's will.  The son who said that he would work in the vineyard but failed to do so represents the religious leaders to whom Jesus was speaking.  The son who initially refused to work in the vineyard but later changed his mind represents the so-called "sinners" who were apparently entering the Kingdom of God ahead the religious leaders.

When the vineyard owner asked the second son to work in the vineyard, the son answered, "Yes, sir."  This son might have given the right answer, but his actions did not match his words, rendering his answer meaningless.  Saying yes with one's words is not the same as saying yes with one's actions.  Religious types love to have all the right answers, but far too often our words amount to little more than lip service.  This parable reminds us that having the right words to say ultimately amounts nothing unless we follow them up with the right actions.  In the words of St. James, "faith is dead when it doesn't result in faithful activity."³

On another occasion, Jesus borrowed a saying from one of the ancient prophets of God to describe a group of religious people: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me."  Hypocrisy is one of the most common criticisms lobbed at modern-day Christians, and sadly this criticism is not unfounded.  Far too often one's religious beliefs get stuck in one's head, never making the journey to one's heart.

Jesus said that people who were typically labeled as "sinners" were entering the Kingdom of God ahead of the religious leaders.  The religious leaders put up a godly facade before the masses, but they did not listen to prophets of their day like Jesus and his predecessor John.  What would such crackpots have to say to people like them?  On the other hand, the tax collectors and prostitutes of whom Jesus spoke had no pretensions since everyone had already written them off as the scum of the earth.  For some reason they were drawn to Jesus and John, and because they listened to them and took their words to heart, a change had begun within them - a change that had brought them closer to God than even the religious leaders.

Probably the most important lesson this parable teaches us is that God values repentance over pretense.  Perhaps what is most insidious about pretending to be something we're not is that we actually start believing we are who we claim we are, regardless of whether or not anyone else is buying what we're selling.  Taking on holier-than-thou attitudes, we forget that we too need to repent and receive God's transforming grace.

Saying the right thing is no substitute for doing the right thing, and acting like we're close to God is no substitute for actually drawing close to God.  May God give us the courage to drop the act and face ourselves, and may God give us the strength to do what God is calling us to do.


Notes:

1. This perspective is based primarily on Matthew 21:28-32.  Quotations are taken from the Common English Bible.
2. Matthew 5:37a (CEB)
3. James 2:17 (CEB)

The photograph of the grapes was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Dragonflyir and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.