Every
year when I come to this service, I wonder what people must think when we read
this text from Matthew and then do the exact opposite. Over the years I have come up with several
theories which I have shared and sometimes I have just avoided the topic all
together because I am sick of talking about it.
But this year I decided to come back to the drawing board and look at it
with fresh eyes. I was trained in
seminary to look at texts critically always considering the context not only
within the Bible, but the time and place it was written. I was also trained to look at my own innate
biases in regards to the text. For
instance, I will almost always look for strength in women of the Bible.
I also realized at one point in seminary that
I was extra sensitive about hypocrisy in the Bible…anytime the Bible seemed to
contradict itself or anytime we as Christians flagrantly contradicted our core
beliefs. This year, it occurred to me
that I was overly preoccupied with our practice of putting ashes on our forehead
after reading a Gospel which clearly states that you should not disfigure your
face and to be sure to wash your face. I
was worried about how it looked, how people might judge Christians as
hypocrites.
Then
I read a commentary that opened my eyes.
The commentator reminded me that this was not meant to be taken
literally. Jesus was using a tool that
he often employed- that of hyperbole. He was talking about extremes. When talking about giving alms he used two
examples. One was the person who blew a
horn before giving money to charity. The
other was the person who was so sneaky about giving, one hand did not know what
the other was doing. We all know that
would be impossible. Jesus was simply
trying to illustrate the point that we are not to do things just for the sake
of being seen by other people.
However
these examples that he used (like putting oil on your head while fasting) were
not meant to be new commandments or rules; they were simply examples. What Jesus was trying to emphasize was the
motivation behind these actions, not the actions themselves. There is one word that comes up over and over
again in these 12 verses: See or be seen. Each time Jesus uses the word, he
juxtaposes two ways of being seen. The
first is doing things in such a way that will ensure you are seen and recognized
by other people. The other is that your
Father in heaven will see you in secret.
In saying that God will see you in secret, Jesus isn’t just talking
about you praying in your closet to make sure no one can see you. He is pointing out that God can see your
intentions.
It
makes you wonder why being seen matters so much. Today it seems as though people are
constantly aware of what other people are doing. You don’t need a street corner or a horn
anymore if you have youtube, twitter and facebook. The point of social media is being seen. You can look at your video or post and the
statistics will tell you how many people saw your post or video. And for some reason, that matters. It matters because it gives us
affirmation. The more people who are
seeing us, the more people who like us, the more we matter as individuals.
Why
is it that we need this kind of validation and affirmation from other people
when we already have that from God? Why
do we seek from other people what God already gives us unconditionally and
selflessly?
It
goes back to the word see. We can see
other people’s reactions and affirmations.
We can see if they approve or disapprove and if we are so inclined, we
can change our actions to get the right response. Many years ago I said something in a sermon
and I got a gasp of horror in response.
I made it through while maintaining my point, but I never made that
point again. In not making that point
again, I knew I would please the people in my congregation. I have no idea what God thought of the point
because there was no audible or visual reaction from God. And that’s why it is so difficult to depend
on God’s perception alone. I can tell
you a million times that God loves you the way you are but it would be a lot
more effective if God told you himself.
That
is why we have the Bible and this community of believers (the church). We help one another understand what God wants
from us. We try to emulate God’s loving
kindness and we try to avoid the kind of judgment that we see so frequently in
the world around us. I am going to stop
worrying if the act of putting ashes on our head makes us look like
hypocrites. I know why I do it, partly
because of what our liturgy says. In
putting on ashes, we are reminding ourselves of our mortality and our
vulnerability. We are remembering that
Jesus died and was resurrected for us so that we too could one day defeat
death. We wear these ashes not to show
everyone how holy we are, but to show people that we know that death is not the
end. These ashes are temporary.
When I put the
ash on your forehead, I will tell you: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust
you shall return.” But we know in our hearts that we are far more than
dust. Remember, it is what is in your
heart that counts, not what you wear on your face. You are dust and to dust you shall return. But that is not the end of our story because
God has promised us eternal life. The ash will one day come off and we will be
reborn.
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