Matthew 6

-
Chapter 6 of Matthew's Gospel is very much a series of “do this and not that” set of directives for followers of Jesus. Heavily laced with references to forgoing a reward from our fellows for what we do, it urges us to seek heavenly reward instead. When we donate, we should do so quietly, not ostentatiously; when we pray, we should do so privately; when we fast, we ought not make that an exhibit of our piety; etc. Summarized in verse 19, the principle behind all this is that earthly praise, reputation, honours will disappear and be forgotten; that which is humbly done in the name of Christ redounds to our eternal happiness and can never be expunged.
      Not really a message for the Sadducees, who didn't believe in eternal life, this could almost be an apology for the theology of the Pharisees who would likely have had little quarrel with much of what is attributed to Jesus here, although it should have felt like rebuke to those who had strayed from the admonitions for faith humility.
      The age-old tension between grace and works comes up in a way here in verse 14, after Jesus outlines the contents of a genuine prayer that ends in a plea for forgiveness and for help defending against sinful temptation. Verse 14 is almost in the covenant format: I will do this if you reciprocate with that. As it comes down to us, the Father will forgive us our sins if we forgive those who sin against us, but if we don't forgive them, neither will the Father forgive us. Some have labelled this the limits of grace. If so, it places a specific condition on grace: he who practices grace while alive, receives grace in quantity and in kind. However we practice this day to day, there's no getting away from the principle here that the creator demands grace and forgiveness—peacemaking—from us.
      The entire idea of treasure on earth, treasure in heaven is wrapped up in verse 19-21.
      Verse 22 is enigmatic: “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light . . .” and the other way round. Appearing where it does, it strikes me that this must be understood as a figure of speech we call Synechdoche, where we use a part of something to represent the entire something. “Keep your nose out of my business” means keep all of you to yourself, not just the nose. The eye being our paying attention part here suggests that what our whole being pays attention to, immerses itself in, will be critical in our development as followers. Focus on the light (supposedly on the radical doctrine preceding this verse) and the light will dawn in you; focus on the message of the Saduccees and the high priests, for instance, and darkness will fill you – blindness, in other words.
      The idea is reiterated in verse 24: service cannot be fully rendered to two masters at once; you can't follow me and the high priests for instance, at the same time. Focus, people.
      The chapter concludes with a homily on the futility of worry and for me is kind of the most difficult part of the whole. I am a worrier to the point where I have to be medicated from time to time in order to function. “Take no thought for what you shall eat, wear, drink is something I don't worry about too much, but I'm wracked with worry about the future of the human race, the plight of my fellow men, women and children in war-torn places, the corporate destruction of the environment and the earth's ability to sustain us in health and beauty . . . and the list goes on. My attitude tends to be that “somebody better get a lot more worried . . . and active . . . or we'll never solve the problems so many people face on a daily basis.”
      What this last part may do for some is to remind again that the Gospel of Christ is freeing, not binding; it's graceful, not legalistic. Grace frees, legalism binds. Jesus appears to be painstakingly untying the bonds around the hearts and minds of his followers so that the new, the truly fulfilling gospel of forgiveness, freedom and love can take wing. We have a great word in German: verkramft most nearly translates “fettered,” and here again, I appeal to my English teaching background: hyperbole is an exaggeration in the interest of understanding. Of course I will worry, but through these words, my worry will take on a different meaning, a call to act rather than another reason to brood pessimistically about the doom and gloom coming at me over the near horizon.
      Each day has trouble of its own. Don't swallow and suffer indigestion on the entire ball of worry the news brings you; do your best to deal with the immediate needs of each new day. Is that comfort at all for you and me?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Democracy or bust

-
Image
  Politics . You can tell how people relate to this word by the way they use it. “I’m not much interested in politics,” for instance, equates it with the day-to-day news about our current government, elections, party dynamics, etc. A narrow definition.                By whatever word we use, it’s clear that the setting and enforcing of the principles under which we form community—and function as community—existed before the word was coined. In families, in schools, in workplaces, on the roads, in the economy, the making and respecting of agreed-to behavioural expectations in a community is the necessary defense against chaos.                How behavioural expectations come to be, how they are altered, how they are enforced … and most importantly by whose authority … is fundamental. The “benevolent dictator” model has a long history: give...
Read more

Do I dare eat a peach?

-
Image
  All the talk of Joe Biden’s unfitness for the position of president of the USA must have others of his age—80 plus—wondering about their own fitness. Most of us octogenarians are well aware of our physical limitations, I think, but mentally? How can I know, for instance, if the lines I’m writing are logically sound, or if they fall somewhere between inane and gibberish? How can I know if my diminished capacity can be trusted to make such a judgment? And what if my friends are too kind to tell me when to close my laptop? Hearing an aging loved one tell the same stories to the same people every day has the able-minded nodding knowingly and cluckingly (that’s a word, isn’t it?). We’re obviously too kind and too hip not to know that people experiencing obvious dementia deserve to be “handled with care,” and we’ve devised places and strategies to preserve for them whatever dignity is still possible. But it’s not dissimilar from the pain-relieving, ointment applying, chair-exercisin...
Read more

Stories We Live By

-
Image
  David Brooks, writer, philosopher and journalist, said in a recent speech to the Aspen Ideas gathering that the current divisive, belligerent mood among the people of earth can’t be attributed to our real-life situations. We have space, food, water, shelter, healthcare enough for everyone, and more. We don’t fight because we need to, he said, but because we carry stories in our heads to which we respond. It's clear that he doesn’t mean story in the same way I meant it when I published a collection of short stories , but there’s something to be gained in connecting the two, particularly when behaviour is guided by, for instance, The Holy Bible , or the Quran , each telling a story by which adherents understand life and by which their actions are governed. Scientists, as a rule, act according to a very different story of life, their exploration guided very much by the saga of evolving nature and the incontrovertible principles that govern all things. Our stories —I think Broo...
Read more