Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - Wednesday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Cor 9:6-11 and Matt 6:1-6, 16-18,991]Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. [Matthew]
One might ask how this statement of Jesus squares with his image of a disciple being salt of the earth and a light to the world so that people can see one's good deeds and give glory to God? [Matt 5:13-16] My own response is that it comes down to motivation. Jesus is speaking in today's gospel passage from the Sermon on the Mount about three traditional forms of "good deeds" that were popular with pious Jews, especially the Pharisees: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. He criticizes not the practice but the motive of doing it for personal gain, especially prestige.
I now live near a large university with many very large buildings and athletic facilities that have the names of very generous donors on them. In fact, one of the motives in fund-raising is to offer "naming rights" to someone for a particularly large donation to help construct a project. I'm not sure how Jesus' admonition would apply, but I have thought about it on my daily morning walk on campus. The same would apply to various parts of a church facility. I know of certain churches with certain names on certain pews where it is "understood" who gets to sit there.
Jesus' teaching today reminds us all of the need to "purify" motives for doing very good things and not to do them for the wrong reasons. As I've said before, the Sermon on the Mount is a good way to examine one's conscience and "squirm" a little. AMEN