How Can I Preach When I’m Not Permitted to Speak?
How can I preach when I’m not permitted to speak?
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).
Hello and welcome to episode 5 of A Light to the Nations. I’m your host, Fr. Fred Shaheen.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapters 5-7 constitute a teaching that is commonly referred to as the sermon on the Mountain. In that section of the gospel, Jesus ascends a mountain, he is seated, and his disciples come to him. Then, he opens his mouth and begins to teach them. The detail that Jesus is seated, in the position of the teacher, and delivering the words to his disciples from a mountain, à la Moses, is significant. There is a direct corollary in fact between Moses receiving instruction from the Lord on Mount Sinai in and delivering it to the Israelites, and Jesus opening his mouth and teaching his disciples here in Matthew. In both cases, the instruction is one of a covenant arrangement. Notice how in Matthew, the sermon is addressed to Jesus’ disciples, of whom it says they came to him, and not to the crowds. Just as in Exodus, the Torah (or words of instruction) are given by God to Moses to deliver to the sons of Israel. In both instances, what is taught are words of instruction to a people who belong to God, who are on the receiving end of His saving activity; for both groups, it is obedience to that instruction that defines them as belonging to God; and also what allows them to continue in the state of being graceful recipients of the gift; in Exodus, it’s the deliverance from a life of servitude under pharaoh in Egypt and the gift of inheritance of the earth of promise in Canaan; in Matthew, it is reconciliation to God through the forgiveness of sins and, ultimately, victory over even death. In both cases - Moses and Jesus - the teacher lays out the terms of the covenant. If you believe you are saved from slavery in Egypt by the hand of the Lord your God, then this is how you are to behave. And we get the Torah, beginning with the Ten Commandments. If you believe your sins are forgiven and you are being freed from the tyranny of death - then this is how you, my disciples, are to behave in the world. And we get Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, beginning with the Beatitudes.
So the purpose of Jesus’ sermon in Matthew is to teach his disciples how they ought to act if they in fact are his disciples. In the middle of Jesus’ discourse, he gives instructions on how to give alms, how to pray and how to fast. In his teaching on prayer, Jesus tells the disciples that they are to address God as father; to expect the coming of his kingdom and submit everything to the doing of his will. This doing of his will - “Thy will be done” as it is worded in the Lord’s Prayer - is key. It is only in the hearing and doing the will of God that the disciples of Jesus can be called sons of God, that they can even dare to address him as “father.” Literarily, the Lord’s Prayer occupies an important place in the sermon on the mountain. It’s in the exact middle of the discourse that covers chapters 5-7, what biblical scholars like to call the chiastic center.
Just as the Lord’s prayer is given a prominent place in the center of the teaching, similarly Jesus’ teaching on almsgiving (or doing charitable deeds) is given its own priority in chapter 6, in that it is addressed first, before both prayer and fasting.
“But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly (Matthew 6:3-4).
In all three, almsgiving, prayer and fasting, the basic rule is the same - don’t do it for show, don’t do it to look pious in front of men, but do it privately and with sincerity before God.
“But you, when you pray, (A)go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [a]openly.” (6:6)
“But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you [f]openly.” (17-18)
Unlike prayer and fasting, almsgiving isn’t a matter exclusively between the doer of the deed and God. More specifically, it involves the relationship of the doer with God as expressed in concrete behavior toward others.
There’s a story about a Saint who used to keep money on hand to give to the poor in a purse in different denominations - singles, 5s, 10s and 20s in random order. When he would reach into the purse to give to someone, without looking he couldn’t tell what he was grabbing. So when he gave, his left hand literally didn’t know - nor did he himself - what the right hand was doing. He thus acted with complete trust, not in his own discernment or assessment of the need, but that God himself would provide the thing needed for the person through his concrete act of obedience to the commandment.
Oftentimes we have difficulty reconciling this aspect of Jesus’ instruction about almsgiving with his words which appear earlier in the sermon, “let your light so shine before men that men see your good works and glorify your father in heaven” (5:16). We sometimes only focus on the discretion of our charity - don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing - so that we end up doing nothing out of concern that it somehow become known; we might end up eliminating all matters concerning giving money and doing acts of charity in, for example, a parish setting, because we think no one is supposed to know about it! This is absurd to say the least, and stems from a misunderstanding of the scriptural teaching.
How is one to reconcile the teaching to “let your light so shine before men” in Matthew 5:16 with the instruction to do your acts of charity in secret in 6:4?
I want to use a real-life example to illustrate how to understand the totality of the biblical teaching on charitable acts, particularly as it is given in this part of the New Testament. Shortly after the musician Prince died in 2016, a news story was published about his philanthropy. During his lifetime, the Minneapolis native received countless professional accolades. But few people knew much about Prince the person. This article revealed not only that Prince gave often and generously, but that his practice of giving adhered strictly to three principles:
A few years ago, while I was writing for a blog, I had the opportunity to in...
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