Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - Wednesday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14 and Matt 6:1-6, 16-18]"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]
Uh, oh! Politicians beware! This advice is for you (and the rest of us, too)! At one and the same time, Jesus took aim at the scribes and Pharisees but what he says is meant for all of us. Our motives are just as important as our behavior. It is a warning against doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are all good things to do, but when they are done for the wrong or less than noble intentions, their value for the one who does them is diminished. In the case of politicians, those "photo-ops" might be a classic example!!
One might wonder how Jesus' teaching in this passage lines up with his earlier teaching about being "a light to the world" so that people may see our good deeds and glorify God. It comes down to the connection between the mind/heart on one hand and the behavior on the other. Some might say, "Who cares where the money came from. The new building was built!" Others might have the idea that good deeds are put into some kind of heavenly bank account that will guarantee admission in spite of other motives and actions that are much less honorable - in short, money talks to God.
Jesus teaches us that doing the right thing for the wrong reason is not going to get us any closer to the Kingdom of heaven. If his teaching took hold in the political arena, we might witness a moral revolution! AMEN