So when you give mercy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be seen by the people. Amen I tell you, they have their reward. But when you give mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your mercy giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees all secrets, will repay you. ~ JESUS (Matthew 6:2-4)
SUMMARY: Read this and skip the rest (if you want)
Jesus has begun a new section of the Sermon on the Mount, focusing on our vertical relationship with God as our Father in the Heavens.
Jesus will use three examples: Giving, Praying, and Fasting.
In this first example of giving, Jesus refers to the "hypocrites" for the first time - a Greek word used to describe play actors.
The danger of doing good deeds to be seen by others is that our spirituality becomes performative and loses its heart. So Jesus encourages cultivating a secret spiritual life that no one else can observe.
Secret spirituality can create a bond between us and God, since intimacy is formed through exclusively shared experiences and shared ideas.
At the same time, Jesus does not intend this teaching to be applied legalistically, since Christian discipleship means, among other things, learning by example.
CORE
(The heart of the message)
At the heart of Christian spirituality is a secret life of communion with God.
CONTEXT
(What’s going on before and after this passage)
Jesus has begun a new section of his sermon, instructing his disciples on how to develop a personal, private, hidden, secret spiritual life. He introduces this teaching by saying:
Be careful about your own righteousness. Do not perform a show in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward with your Father in the heavens. ~ JESUS (Matthew 6:1)
Now he moves on to address three examples:
secret giving (right-relatedness toward others)
secret prayer (right-relatedness toward God)
secret fasting (right-relatedness toward ourselves)
In each case, Jesus stresses the importance of cultivating a secret spiritual life that protects us from the temptation to seek our value and meaning from anyone other than God.
In this study we will address the first example of giving. Then in our next study we will skip ahead to the last example of fasting. The second example of prayer is more developed and contains the Lord's Prayer, so we will address that in multiple studies after covering giving and fasting.
For more context, see our previous study here.
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. ~ King Solomon (Proverbs 19:17)
CONSIDER
(Observations about the passage)
When you. Jesus did not say "If you give" or "You must give" but "when you give". In each example, Jesus assumes rather than commands giving, praying, and fasting. Jesus believes his disciples will want to participate in the spiritual practices that help develop their hearts and their bond with the Father. The secret spiritual life of Jesus is a privilege, not a pressure.
Give Mercy. The word used for "giving" in these verses is a form of the word "mercy" and means to give mercy, to offer charity, to extend compassion. It is usually used to refer to money given to the poor and needy, sometimes translated with the old English word "almsgiving", an important Jewish practice (Deuteronomy 15:11; Proverbs 14:31; 19:17). This word usage here reminds us that, for Jesus, our financial giving, like all morality, should be a manifestation of mercy. In Jesus' thinking, mercy is how we make the world right. (Contrast this with those who see financial distribution and other moral matters as a "justice" issue. Jesus never teaches that we make the world right through justice. but through love, grace, mercy, and peace. For more on our misuse of "justice" as a Christian value, see our entry on Justice in our Glossary of Terms.)
Trumpets. There is no evidence that religious Jews literally blew trumpets when practicing charitable giving. We do know that worshippers at the Jerusalem temple dropped their money into large donation boxes and some scholars believe these boxes were called "shofar chests" because the money was placed in a cone/horn/shofar shaped receptacle. So Jesus may be alluding to the sound coins make when they are dropped in the shofar chests. Still, these donation receptacles were not actual trumpets and were never "blown" and no shofar chests were "in the streets", one place Jesus mentions blowing the trumpets. So, Jesus is most likely using the idea of the noisy coin contributions to the donation boxes as a vivid image, a metaphor for any practice that we use to draw attention to our deeds of kindness. Jesus is using word imagery to draw a caricature of proud and self-promoting religious people. In our society today, we have a variety of ways to "toot our own horn" for self aggrandizement whenever we give significantly or perform a good deed.
Hypocrites. Here is Matthew's first record of Jesus calling the religious leaders hypocrites (Greek hupokrités). The philosopher Dallas Willard writes: "It is clear from the literary records that it was Jesus alone who brought this term and the corresponding character into the moral vocabulary of the Western world" (Divine Conspiracy). It seems this concept is a pretty big deal to Jesus, so it's worth getting it right. The Greek word for "hypocrite" means "actor", someone who performs on a stage, who is behaving to be seen, who puts emphasis on the externals, who is playing pretend. Since the Jews considered theatre to be forbidden, there was no handy Hebrew or Aramaic word for "actor" for Jesus to use here, and so this is one Greek word Jesus probably used directly. In his commentary on Matthew, Bible scholar Ben Witherington III writes: "It appears the word became a loan word, like various other Greek terms, in spoken Aramaic." So this is one of the few times in the Bible we have what is likely an original word spoken by Jesus. Cool! Today we might call them "showoffs" (although many of us show off in more subtle, manipulating ways). Jesus is not criticizing people with bombastic, life-of-the-party, attention-grabbing personalities. He's talking about the human religious tendency to perform theatrical righteousness. In Matthew 15 (quoted below) Jesus helps us understand his use of the word "hypocrite" when he says they honour God externally, but not with their hearts (also see John 5:44; 12:43). Hypocrites not only wear a mask to deceive others, they can eventually deceive themselves. They come to "believe their own press." This seems to explain the judgement day surprise described by Jesus later in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:21-23). So pay attention: Is someone always the hero in their own ministry stories? Do they present themselves as a champion for justice, morality, or other kinds of ministry? Or do you recognize these patterns of insecurity in yourself? As Jesus has just told us: Be careful. The Pharisees probably gave "loudly" because they told themselves the people needed to be encouraged by their example. But that can become a trap. As King Solomon said: "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth" (Proverbs 27:2). Let's beware of theatrical righteousness, in ourselves or others. Also notice this is slightly different than how we use the word "hypocrite" today to mean someone who says one thing yet does another. The religious leaders in Jesus' day acted in alignment with their professed beliefs (so they were not hypocrites in the one sense), but their beliefs focussed on the letter of the law and missed the Spirit. They had reduced righteousness to behaving morally rather than forgiving mercifully and loving sincerely, from the inside out. Acting right (regardless of the attitude behind the action) was their religion. This kind of performative righteousness is practiced by surface-dwellers, with a shallow faith. Notice that the apostle Paul says it is possible to do all kinds of overtly righteous and morally noble things, but if our attitude and motivation is not one of love, they are meaningless and, just as Jesus says here, we will gain no reward (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). This kind of externally-focussed life is fanned into flame today through our social media-saturated existence. As Anabaptist theologian Scot McKnight says, at its heart, all hypocrisy is "the nurturance of image."
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ~ JESUS (Matthew 15:7-9; quoting Isaiah 29:13)
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ~ JESUS (Matthew 23:25)
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ~ JESUS (Matthew 23:27)
If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. ~ The apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 13:3)
To be seen by people. When we do good deeds to be noticed, we are not helping others by lifting them up as much as we are using others to help lift up ourselves. (In rebuking the religious leaders in Matthew 23, Jesus will point out three ways they focus on receiving glory from other people: special garments, special seats, and special titles.) It is hard not to do our good deeds to be noticed by others. Being seen as a good person by other people is always a strong emotional payoff. And because humans have a proclivity to usurp the place of God by sitting in judgement over one another, we know that others are always judging us the same way we are judging them. Later in this sermon Jesus will tell us not to judge, but first he helps us become free from the judgement of others. We don't need their approval; we need God's. So Jesus teaches us to practice, practice, practice letting go of this kind of human "reward" by doing deeds of secret goodness.
"The hunger for titles and public awards in human life - indeed in religious life - is quite astonishing."
~ Dallas Willard (The Divine Conspiracy, written before social media)
I do not accept glory from human beings. ~ JESUS (John 5:41)
Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. ~ JESUS (Matthew 23:5-7)
Amen. This Hebrew word is often translated in our English Bibles as "Truly", as in "Truly I tell you". Amen expresses agreement, affirmation, and endorsement of something already said and, therefore, was always said at the end of a prayer or blessing as a way of saying "Yes!" or "I agree!" or "Right on!" This habit of beginning important sayings with "Amen" is unique to Jesus. He is front-end-loading his own affirmation and endorsement, as if to say "What I'm about to tell you is so true, you better pay attention." Or "I'm Jesus Christ and I approve this message." Whereas all other Rabbis used "Amen" to end a pronouncement, Jesus is using "Amen" to begin something new.
Left hand / Right hand. An idiom for unselfconscious, even self-effacing, generosity. We should practice secretive righteousness so much that we stop noticing how much or how little we are being noticed. When both hands are actively giving, neither hand is taking time to pat ourselves on the back.
Secret. The word for "secret" is kruptos, from which we get our English word kryptic. It refers to something that is hidden. The apostle Paul uses the same word to refer to Christians who are true, hidden, secret Jews.
A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly (Greek, kruptos); and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 2:28-29)
Kinda looks like the apostle Paul was mentored by Jesus. Jesus will say God the Father is "in secret" and "sees secrets". God is, in some ways, hidden and he enjoys his life with us when we are also, in some ways, hidden.
Your Father who sees all secrets. While humans look at the outward appearance, God looks into the heart (1 Samuel 16:7; Hebrews 4:12-13). Does God seeing our secrets comfort us? Encourage us? Or stress us out? Jesus wants this to be an encouragement, since this God is our "Father". In this sermon, Jesus calls God our "Father" (Greek, patér) a total of 17 times and 10 of those times are in this section (Matthew 6:1-18). The super concentration of Father imagery is meant to bathe this entire discussion in a sense of God's protective, nurturing care. As Jesus has just finished teaching, our heavenly Father loves us extravagantly and unconditionally (see our study here).
God sees us at our worst, and he loves us.
God sees our secret sins, and he loves us.
God sees our selfish choices, and he loves us.
God sees our most dramatic failings, and he loves us.
God sees our judgemental hearts toward those who fail, and he loves us.
God is not surprised with our human frailty and propensity to wander. At what point did the Father of the Prodigal Son stop loving his boy or give up on him?
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.(Hebrews 4:12-13)
God sees all. God judges all. And God loves us all.
Reward/Repay. Jesus has already mentioned the idea of "reward" in his introduction to this section (Matthew 6:1) and will again multiple times. The idea of reward can sound like payment for a specific behaviour, and in one sense this is true, but by placing the idea in the context of a loving relationship with our heavenly Father, Jesus has decommercialized it. The two words translated "reward" and "repay" in this passage are different in Greek (worth pointing out since most English versions translate both as "reward"). The first ("they have their reward") is the classic word for reward, but the second ("your Father... will repay you") is a different word meaning to repay, restore, give back. Humans "reward" us and God "repays" us. Huh. There is certainly overlap since God's "repayment" is also called "reward" in 6:1. Taken as a whole, Matthew's record of Jesus seems to be saying: it pays to invest in our relationship with God. Apparently, the Christian life is not supposed to be so selfless that we feel the need to say "I get nothing out of it", but rather our focus is on getting the right benefit in the right way from the right Source. For Jesus, the idea of "reward" is both "here and now" as well as "there and then". The reward of deeper and greater intimacy with the Almighty can be experienced here and now in our spiritual lives, just as Jesus taught the Kingdom of the Heavens was coming here and now. And at the same time, there will always be more to look forward to in the future. As we learned in our previous study, being with God is the ultimate reward.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ~ JESUS (John 14:3)
"What you are in private is what you really are." ~ N.T. Wright (Matthew for Everyone)
COMMENTARY
(Thoughts about meaning and application)
Regular giving, like regular fasting, trains our hearts to love well. We'll talk more about this in our next study on fasting. For now, let's' focus on the value of doing these things in secret.
Sometimes we talk about Christianity being a relationship, not a religion. This is true. But it raises the question:
What does having a relationship with God look like?
What an important question! And here Jesus is giving us a practical answer: A relationship with God looks like other love relationships - enjoying each other's company, doing things together, and talking with one another.
Relationship is all about sharing ideas while sharing experiences.
On sharing ideas, Jesus will soon teach at length on prayer - talking with God. The connection between prayer and the idea of friendship with God is more obvious, and this will be our focus in upcoming studies. But let's not miss the connection between cultivating a divine relationship through secret shared activities like giving and fasting.
On sharing experiences, secret giving and secret fasting can deepen our relational bond. When we do something just with God, with no one else involved, we are deepening our private intimacy. When we give money anonymously, we share a wink and a nod with God. When we help a beggar with no one else looking, we walk away with a shared smile just between us and God. When we donate to a charity with no plaque on the wall and no "Thank you" phone call from the treasurer, we widen our awareness of God using us to bless others. Our sense of partnership with God increases. It's like God and us are best friends who share inside jokes, or finish each other's ... sandwiches. We are doing good together in this world, and that shared secret experience strengthens our bond.
As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ~ The apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 6:1; also see 1 Corinthians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:20)
When we only live out our faith in the presence of other believers, we may habitually notice them noticing us, and we might start to care too much about their opinions and observations and approval. God can get ignored, even in the middle of deeds of worship done in his name.
But when we share experiences with God in secret, our bond with God strengthens. Our thought life becomes a prayer life. Our inner emotional life becomes a shared experience with God. Specific events become memory-makers that solidify our intimacy with the Almighty.
God wants to have a secret life with us. When we give money, do good deeds, or intentionally give up doing something we like for a day or a season without telling others, we create shared experiences with God. This is one way we develop our own relationship with God that is not mediated through other believers, but is more direct, immediate, and intimate.
In fact, Jesus says we can meet with him through the people we give mercy to:
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. ~ JESUS (Matthew 25:34-40)
How exciting is this?!
But there is one issue yet to resolve...
Jesus gave all of his followers the Great Commission: to make disciples of all people everywhere (Matthew 28:18-20). And making disciples, that is, training apprentices of Jesus, means teaching them to follow Jesus by example, not just through lecture. So here's the question: How can we teach others how to follow Jesus through our example if we never share our secret spiritual life with them?
The early church knew that leading by example was an important part of true discipleship:
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. ~ The apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1)
Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ~ The apostle Paul (Philippians 3:17)
(Also: 1 Corinthians 4:16; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:7, 9)
Once again we rely on Jesus' earlier teaching on how to read the Bible non-legalistically, according to the principle behind the precept, looking for the love embedded in the law, the reason underneath the rule (e.g., "Do not murder" becomes "Honour all people as precious" and "Do not commit adultery" becomes "Do not not use people for your own selfish desires", etc.).
When we interpret any teaching in the Bible legalistically (that is, purely externally), we are becoming surface dwellers, that is, hypocrites. For instance, although giving in secret is the principle, we don't need to put on a ski mask so we won't be recognized the next time we give money to someone begging on the street.
Part of the process of discipleship is learning by observing. Notice in Jesus's intro to this new section of the Sermon on the Mount he does not say: "Do not allow yourself to be seen by others", period. He says in essence: "Do not perform your spiritual practice in order to make being seen your reward." (See our last study for more on this.)
In fact, on one occasion, Jesus sits by a shofar chest in the Temple to watch people making their donations and he turns this into a teaching moment regarding one woman's small but meaningful gift (Mark 12:41-43). Jesus does not rebuke her for being seen, but instead praises her act of true righteousness.
Jesus is not telling us we have to be invisible in body; he is encouraging us to be self-effacing in spirit.
CONFESSION
(Personal reflection)
I confess that I suck at relationship. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I get so wrapped up in my own little mental world that I fail to reach out to others around me, either to ask for help or to offer help with the burdens of life. I am, in the words of one of my counsellors, almost pathologically passive.
When I hear about someone I know going through a really hard time I think to myself: "That's so sad. Well, they know how to find me if they need anything." And so, I have quietly, passively, told myself that I am a "helpful" person, even though I rarely reach out to help others around me.
What a load of hooey.
During these past few years of intense personal crisis, I have been abundantly blessed by people who took the initiative to lean into my life without being asked. They just showed up, walking through our front door to the tune of "Oh when the saints come barging in." Some of them were dear friends, and some of them I had never met before but have now become dear friends.
This is convicting to someone like me who is so relationally passive. I have so much to learn. And this includes learning loads in my relationship with God, in which I am, again, quite passive.
Being relationally handicapped in a movement that emphasizes "It's not about religion, it's about relationship" can be a problem. I seem to have given up asking, seeking, and knocking for more of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 7:7-12; Luke 11:9-13). I figure, if God wants to say something to me, he knows where to find me.
What an extra large load of hooey.
I need to accept that I am living in the New Covenant. The New Covenant invites us into an inside-out spirituality in which our hidden life with God becomes all the more important. The Old Covenant used strict laws and severe punishments to form a kind of ethical exoskeleton to hold God's people together morally.
As discussed in previous studies, God always promised that one day he would establish a New Covenant - a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22) with better promises (Hebrews 8:6) and a better hope (Hebrews 7:18-19). This new and better covenant would provide us with new hearts, soft hearts, hearts of flesh instead of stone, that is, hearts that are more responsive to the Spirit's leading and more inclined toward other-centred loving (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:25-27). We won't understand the significant shift of the New Covenant in all of religious history without fully appreciating one central quality of the New Covenant: the outpouring, infilling, and baptism of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36:27; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:16; John 7:37-39; 14:16-17; Acts 2:17-21).
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. ~ The apostle John (John 7:37-39)
In these New Covenant times, our moral decisions are meant to be less about consulting the rule book outside oneself, or simply submitting to what our religious leaders tell us, and more about listening to the Spirit's leading from within. Yes, this inner witness of the Spirit is also reinforced externally by God speaking through the example and teaching of Jesus, by the whole Scriptures, by other believers who hear God's voice, and by God speaking through our experience.
Look at how the early Church discerned the right way forward concerning the issue of whether or not to include gentiles in the Kingdom of Christ as recorded in the book of Acts (especially Acts 10-15). It makes for a fascinating study of how God speaks and how we should listen.
So when the apostle Paul implores us to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18-19), he is talking about something that should be central to the daily Christian life. When he tells his readers to "live by the Spirit", be "led by the Spirit", "walk with the Spirit", and to "keep in step with the Spirit", he is describing the New Covenant approach to everything, including our ethics (Galatians 5:16-25). Without the letter of the Law as our guide, walking with and listening to the Holy Spirit is all we got - and that is a lot! In the New Covenant, being Spirit-filled is not optional, like a side of fries. Being Spirit-led is what the New Covenant is all about.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ~ The apostle Paul (Galatians 5:18)
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ~ The apostle Paul (Romans 8:5-6)
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ~ JESUS (John 16:13-14)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ~ JESUS (John 10:27)
The New Covenant lifts the law off our backs and instead implants the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And this Holy Spirit actually brings the presence of God the Father and Jesus himself to us (Matthew 18:20; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 2:16). Amazing!
Yet, this new way of living in relationship with God and one another can become a weakness to those of us whose secret spirituality of the heart is underdeveloped. If I do not invest in my hidden relationship with God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, I am setting myself up for a fall. If we remove the laws and yet do not cultivate a strong heart of love that is led by the Spirit, we have successfully removed the restrictions of the Old Covenant without replacing them with anything of substance.
The only thing worse for a Christian than staying in Old Testament legalism is leaving the Old Covenant life of law behind while failing to fully move into the New Covenant Spirit-filled, Spirit-guided, Spirit-led life of love.
For me, with my Immanuel Kant inspired "live by duty not desire" leanings (see our last post), I sometimes think I would thrive better under Old Covenant law than I do under New Covenant grace. At least I wouldn't have to work so hard at cultivating my secret spirituality. Just do the right thing as laid out in the Scriptures and preached by our leaders, or get stoned to death - simple and clear, not to mention motivational! Legalism is attractive to people who find it difficult to cultivate their own inward, secret connection with God.
I am in a season of decision-making about my own future. I have a few different paths I could choose. So I decided the best thing to do would be to ask a variety of wise people who know me what they are hearing God say about my life. After all, doesn't the Bible say that listening to the advice of others is the road to wisdom and success (e.g., Proverbs 11:14; 12:15; 15:22; 19:20; and dozens more like this)? And yet, one of the first thing many of these wise advisors pointed out was... "Bruxy, we're in the New Covenant and you need to also learn to listen to the voice of God for yourself." Dang.
So here I am. I am ready to listen to wise advice from others, yet ultimately I can't just offload hearing God's voice to anyone else. And that is kind of exciting.
Stay tuned!
CONCLUSION
(One last thought)
What secret good deeds do you do that no one else knows about? When you do them, are you consciously aware that God is with you? If so, how does this strengthen your relational connection with God?
Do you have any resources that have helped you learn how to connect relationally with God?
While I work on my own secret spiritual life, I'd be happy to hear from you on what is helping you grow. Please get in touch!
CONTEMPLATE
(Scripture passages that relate to and deepen our understanding of this topic)
Matthew 23:5-11; Romans 8
For Further Study...
CONVERSATION
(Talk together, learn together, grow together)
What is God revealing to you about himself through this passage?
What is God showing you about yourself through this passage?
Do you have any regular, organized, planned ways you give money to support ministry to those in need?
What is one thing you can think, believe, or do differently in light of what you are learning?
What questions are you still processing about this topic?
