Wednesday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time, June 16, 2021

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples:“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.”  The Lord’s words here sound simple and straight-forward enough, but they seem to contradict what he had said earlier in his Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5, 16: “So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  Note, though, that in the first quote, Jesus says, “Take care not to perform”, that is, Do not perform an act purposefully; and then he says, “Let your light shine”, that is, Do not hide it.  Thus, his disciples are to perform good deeds, but they are to do them for God’s glory, not for their own.  And this, properly is the nature of being a “disciple”, to bring glory to one’s master by proficiency in the master’s teachings.  On the other hand, the Lord does sound insistent on this matter, for he also says, “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret.”  The Lord does mean for the action to be secret, or, better, “hidden” — but from the one performing it.  His disciples must become so accustomed to looking for good deeds to do, and so natural in doing them, that the disciple does not think twice about them.  Performing charitable actions should become as normal for his disciples as breathing or walking. 

“When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.”  The Church Fathers and later spiritual writers loved this verse and understood it particularly in terms of contemplative prayer, teaching that “your inner room” is one’s innermost heart, and praying “in secret” meant losing oneself in the wonder of God.  This first applies, however, to ordinary believers: Go to a place where you can be alone and undisturbed and there open your heart to Almighty God.  Speak to him of what you cannot speak to anyone else.  Be intimate with him as with no one else.  But this is not all.  Jesus tells us, “And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”  “Your Father who sees in secret”, that is, who knows all things and is waiting for you in the place to which you will go, “will repay you.”  The Greek word here translated as “repay” actually means “to return”, or “to give back”.  The problem with “repay” is that the word has the sense of “paying back a loan”, or “granting a reward”.  The actual sense here is that when we offer God our intimacy, he offers his to us — by his grace we make ourselves capable of experiencing his intimacy.  And this is prayer.  We talk to him as we would talk to no one else, and he listens whole-heartedly to us and responds deep in our hearts.

The Pharisees saw God walking on their streets for three years and they never asked him for anything.