Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4
“Not to let our left hand know what our right hand does when giving alms is possible only by the overwhelming self-forgetfulness that comes from Jesus’ call to discipleship. We are called to righteousness as well as called to give alms; these are possible because of what we have received. (Alms can take many different forms. Giving money may be one of the lesser forms of alms. The virtues themselves are alms if we rightly understand that we are to give ourselves.) That is why, for Christians, acquiring the virtues is not to be understood as what we do, but rather as what has been made possible by the gifts we have received. We can do only what we have been given.”
Stanley Hauerwas in Matthew (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006) 76. Special thanks to my mate down under, Tim Macready, who suggested I check out this commentary. I was glad to locate it online from South Africa, where the receptivity of my global audience has far exceeded my expectations.
Today marks the beginning of week three of Lent. We will turn our attention from fasting (week one) to prayer (week two) to giving alms (week three). That’s not any set pattern, but rather my personal focus this Lent. My wife is good at concentrating on three things simultaneously. I often do better when I give one thing priority.
I loved these comments by Hauerwas because they reflects what I have discovered from my study as the posture of the Apostle Paul toward the needy: “help the weak” by basically giving them yourself (Acts 20:32-35). Giving ourselves and the virtues we have received from God on our spiritual journey are the greatest gifts we can give people.
This requires “overwhelming self-forgetfulness” because our aim wherever we go and whatever we do tends toward caring for our own needs. It’s only possible with God’s help because our fleshly limiters kick in. In Christ, however, we know that only through enjoyment and sharing of all God’s blessings, spiritual and material, do we take hold of life.
May God the Father, by the Holy Spirit give us the mind of Christ so that following the example of the Apostle Paul we may help the weak by giving them money as needed, but go way beyond that. May we sacrifice our lives with overwhelming self-forgetfulness, sharing freely all the good gifts God has given us for His glory. Amen.