After discussing person-to-person relationships, Jesus turns his attention to duties related to religious life. The point of the chapter 5 examples was, how you treat other human beings matters. For some, not killing another human being is enough. Jesus’ disciples must go beyond that and actually treat their enemy with love and dignity. His audience had been misguided and had misunderstood certain aspects of Old Testament Law and Jesus takes time to clear up those misunderstandings.
Starting in chapter 6, they haven’t misunderstood anything, but Jesus checks their motives for doing things they are apparently already doing. Jesus grants that they give, pray, and fast, and they should be doing these things. However, when they give, pray, fast, or commit other acts of righteousness, they are not do to them like the hypocrites do. Instead, You are to be different.
Jesus calls giving, praying, and fasting “your righteousness.” They are religious duties. I have heard many say, “Christianity is not about religion, it’s about relationship.” Certainly the relational element is superior, but a relationship with Jesus does not exclude expected religious duties, like giving, praying, and fasting. “Religion” is not discarded by the “relationship.” Additionally, these three do not exhaust the list of expected religious duties. One could include communion, baptism, tithing, and even singing on the list of “your righteousness.” What Jesus has to say about these three can be applied to other things as well.
Jesus checks their motives right at the beginning of chapter 6, identifying immediately what makes an “act of righteousness” acceptable or not. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Mat. 6.1, ESV). If you do all the right things, but you do them so that someone will notice you, you have wrong motives.
He compares what they should do with what “hypocrites” actually do. On giving, hypocrites announce their giving with trumpets, both in the synagogues and in the streets, and they have one purpose for doing so: that they may be praised by others. Hypocrites also like to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners that they may be seen by others. Finally, when they fast, they want others to know about it, to show men they are fasting.
These religious duties are certainly admirable. They are also expected. But Jesus insists that they be done with right motives. The problem is not that hypocrites give, but that when they give, what they really want is the recognition for their gift. More than having a heart of compassion for someone in need, they have a narcissistic desire to have people congratulate them for being so generous.
The problem is not that they pray, even loudly. We should remember that Jesus himself prayed out loud, so his recommendation, pray in secret, is not absolute. Furthermore, part of the regular religious duties involved in a typical synagogue or church is praying out loud. But when hypocrites pray, they do so in order to impress people with how good of a pray-er they are. More than having a desire to communicate intimately with God, they have a narcissistic desire to have people notice how “in-tune” they are with God (or at the very least, they want to impress people with their very large vocabulary).
The problem isn’t that hypocrites fast, but they do so in a way that reflects a narcissistic desire to have people in awe of how pious they are. The giving, the praying, the fasting... it is all a show! It’s all fake!
We could add to this list. Tithing is a religious duty. The same message about giving to the needy applies to tithing. No doubt, there are some who tithe in order to show what a large salary they have. (On a related note, there are also some who expect that since they tithe, they are entitled to certain things in return from the church. I have had numerous discussions with people who, unhappy with the music selection on Sunday mornings, “kindly” remind me that it is the older people who, by tithing, “pay the bills” *Hint Hint!* Sorry, but if you think tithing entitles you to listen to a certain genre of music on Sunday morning, your money is dirty).
Singing is an assumed expectation in the church. We are all implored to make a joyful noise to the Lord, but let’s be honest, some singing voices seem more “joyful” than others. Singing isn’t bad. However, there are some whose voices are wonderful, and the whole reason they sing is so that others will congratulate them on their wonderful singing voice. I can’t prove this, but I think the song of someone who is tone-deaf yet singing from the overflow of his/her heart is far more beautiful to God’s ear than a hypocrite who hits all the right notes with the right vibrato, singing for the praise of men.
We could say the same thing about serving in a soup kitchen, taking a mission trip, teaching a Sunday School class, preaching a sermon, etc. And to be fair, I must apply this to myself. I could be writing all this so that you will recognize how smart I am, or how great a writer I have become. God help me if that is my motive!
Jesus’ recommendation for giving, praying, and fasting is to do those in secret. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” We don’t give so that people will know how generous we are, we give because we have compassion on another human being and want to do our part to help. We don’t pray so that someone will be impressed with our devotion (or vocabulary), but because we genuinely want to commune with God in a deeper way. We don’t fast to show people how pious we are, we fast because God has asked us to do it and we want to do right by him.
Furthermore, we tithe, not to show others how big our salaries are, but as an expression of thanks to God for what he has provided. We sing, not so that another will pat us on the back and give us an “attaboy,” but because our heart is overflowing with praise and adoration to God for the great things he has done. We serve, help, teach, and preach, not for the recognition we think we might get (or deserve), but because we genuinely want to honor God with the best of what we have. For myself, I put this all together, not so that you will think more highly of me, but because this is one concrete way I can get to know God better.
The only person we need to impress is God. Then, “your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (6.4, 6, 18). Hypocrites simply want the approval of men. To their credit, that is exactly what they get: “They have received their reward in full.” What they want is to receive a pat on the back. They get it. What they want is to hear an “Attaboy!” They get it. What they want is people to be impressed with their religious piety. They get it.
What they sacrifice in the meantime is the approval of God. God’s approval is all that matters. Our motives ought to be guided by a right response to him. When we do the right kinds of things with the right motives, others may notice. In fact, Jesus hopes for this in Matthew 5.16: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds.” Giving, praying, fasting, serving, helping, tithing, reconciling relationships, maintaining fidelity to spouses, being genuinely honest, not seeking revenge, and loving our enemies -- these are ways in which our light shines before men. These are all “Good Deeds” that others may see. But we do not do “our righteousness” SO THAT they will notice us, but “that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven!”
Two questions now remain. First, as a believer, do we do the things expected of a believer, like giving, praying, fasting and all the rest? These are all things Jesus expects, and he takes for granted that his audience is already doing these things. “Religion” is not sacrificed in the name of “Relationship.” Second, what motivates us to do those very things? Is it to prove to men that we are as devout, as pious, and as “righteous” as we think we are? If so, we will get what we are looking for. Instead, we should do our “righteousness” as a genuine worshipful response to the grace and mercy God has extended to us. After all, it is the pure in heart that are blessed. While the rest of the world goes around seeking an “attaboy” from everybody else, it is the pure in heart that will see God.
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