1“Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. 3 But when you give to the poor, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 so that you may give to the poor in secret. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that’s the only reward they’ll get. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
Reflection
Editorial note: Wow! Today is our 1300th devotional! We began on Monday, September 9, 2019!
Today’s scripture is a traditional reading for Ash Wednesday. I love Ash Wednesday, perhaps above every day in the Christian Year except Christmas, Easter, and All Saints’ Sunday. I love it for its emphasis on the authenticity and integrity of faith – the need to make sure the private and the public are consistent with one another.
My message is usually about how Jesus cares more about what’s happening in our hearts rather than what our religious practice looks like on the outside. I know this is kind of ironic, since Ash Wednesday – of all the days – is the one where many Christians walk around advertising our religious practice on our foreheads.
Still, this irony doesn’t diminish the importance of the message. In fact, it rather amplifies it for me. Because at the bottom line, Jesus is saying this: you don’t need to prove to the world you’re a praying person by making a spectacle of yourself. They’ll know soon enough whether or not you’ve prayed by the way you act when you get done praying. They don’t need to see (or hear) the prayer itself. They’ll know. You can trust me on that.
by Joe Monahan
For Pondering and Prayer
On Ash Wednesday, the cross on our foreheads holds us accountable to Jesus’ instruction that the public and the private should line up with each other. If you walked around town wearing a smudgy cross on your forehead today, would people who observed the way you interact with the world be be curious about faith, or would they turn away?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I pray only this today…that what’s in my heart might line up with my words and actions in the world. Let my private prayers shape my public actions. Amen.