This Ash Wednesday Gospel reading actually comes from two sections of the sixth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The individual sections that comprise the reading serve as bookends to the Lord’s Prayer. The sections which draw our attention today address the ‘pious acts’ of prayer, gift giving and fasting, and ultimately what we as believers should value during our earthly life.
On one level Jesus is giving us instructions on how to pray, make an offering, and fast. He emphasizes that there is no heavenly reward in drawing attention to oneself as we pray or fast. And that a gift, regardless of type, should be offered quietly in a manner that enhances God kingdom on earth. He makes it clear that God rewards those who practice this aspect of their faith in “secret.” He concludes his ‘instructions’ by making it clear that we should not value our earthly possessions, but rather the treasures that come from heaven. Needless to say, Jesus’ challenges seem almost impossible to meet as we first ponder them. How can we pray in public, in community, without drawing attention to ourselves at least to some degree or make a significant gift without being recognized by others? In most cases we cannot. Many of us give to be noticed or even congratulated. Jesus is asking us to look at it another way. He states that God’s heavenly ‘reward’ is far greater than anything that another can provide.
What makes the critical difference to Jesus are matters of the heart, our motives when we pray, give or fast. Jesus is speaking to our relationship with God, the Father, and in a very real way our relationship with ourselves. We are instructed to focus our attention on God and our relationship with him. We are reminded that the stuff of the world is clearly subordinate to God’s grace and love. Jesus is implicit in that if God comes first in our lives and in our hearts then our ‘treasure’ rests with God. He is who we value; hence he is who we worship.
As I read and reread this passage, I realized that what was important to God was my heart, how I choose to live and my actions towards others.
While the choice is ours to make, God seeks us to place him first and do so with humility.
At 3:00 AM when I cannot sleep and I am up against the difficulties of life, God is there to comfort and hold me. My acts of piety or the stuff I have accumulated do not go very far in comparison.
David W. Foerster, Jr.
All Saints' Episcopal Church
