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Matthew 6:1-4 · Giving to the Needy
Actors
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
by John Jamison
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Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets....

We can almost see the people in the crowd leaning forward as they try to hear these things Jesus was saying that afternoon on the hillside. He had been talking for a while now, and although he started out talking about things that were theological, he was now getting to things that actually made sense to everyone. It was nice to hear him say how the poor are actually blessed, and the weak will one day inherit the earth, but while those ideas are comforting, they are really kind of hard to make any real sense of in the day-to-day things that go on.

He was talking about things that were real, like praying, giving, and fasting. These are things that everyone deals with and often struggles with, so they all leaned in a bit more to see if he had anything to say that might really mean something.

Many of us are familiar with these words and the afternoon that Jesus spoke to the crowd on that hillside by the Sea of Galilee. We’ve talked a lot about it and have even given it a name: The Sermon on the Mount. We know some parts better than others, like that list of things that are blessed that we call the Beatitudes. Since we’ve been here before, let’s take a step back from what is being said here and take a little different look at things to see if we can hear anything new in this story.

In your imagination, picture that crowd of people sitting on the grassy hillside next to the lake; you can close your eyes if it will help. We see Jesus standing down by the shore in that cove where his voice would carry up the hillside so everyone could hear him. It’s actually a very pretty place: the water from the lake calmly lapping against the shore, a nice breeze blowing in from across the lake carrying the smells and sounds of a peaceful day. Every once in a while there is the sound of a wooden oar hitting the side of a boat as the fishermen go about their day on the lake, oblivious to what was going on there on the side of the hill.

Like in the movies, begin to pull the camera back from that hillside, slowly zooming back to take in more and more of the scene. We can now almost see the entire crowd, spread across the hillside, much larger than we might have actually expected. It is a colorful crowd and near the back edge of the group you can see children running around and playing games after becoming bored with all the talking that was going on. There are animals, some carts, all of the things you would expect with a large group of people traveling to a big event.

As the camera pulls back, we see that the little hillside is on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, and we can see the western and eastern shores beginning to curve to the south. Most of us expect the Sea of Galilee to be much larger than it actually is, with all of the things that happened around it, but actually it is not large at all. You can easily see across it from east to west. The hillside with the crowd is just a short walk from Capernaum, where Jesus and the disciples have been staying for a while. Another short walk to the east is Bethsaida, the home of the brothers and a busy fishing village. There are several small villages on the western side too, and the city of Tiberias is just out of sight further south. It was only a couple hours’ walk, but the odds are that no one here had ever been there before; it was a city built by Rome and not a place most folks from around here cared to visit.

Before we go any further, on the top of the hill just north of where the crowd is listening to Jesus, we can clearly make out the highway. This is one of the busiest roads in the country, stretching from Egypt all the way to Damascus and beyond. People traveling this road come from every country imaginable, and it’s likely that some of those travelers would stop for a while to listen to the conversation on the hillside today too.

As our camera continues to move back, at the south end of the lake we can see the Jordan River stretching to the south. This is the bottom edge of Galilee and marks the northern boundary of the land known as Samaria. As we know, Samaria is also not a place where a good Jew wants to spend time. Since coming back from that exile years ago, the Jews and Samaritans have not been good neighbors. In fact, the quickest route from Galilee to Jerusalem in the south is to go through Samaria. But instead, the Galileans would travel east, across the Jordan into what is some really nasty and dangerous roads, just to avoid bumping into a Samaritan. If a Galilean did make the journey through Samaria and happened to walk across a Samaritan’s yard, the Samaritan would run outside with a handful of straw, throw it on the spot the Galilean touched, and set it afire to burn away any trace of that Galilean. No, they weren’t good neighbors. This is the reason people laughed so hard when they heard Jesus tell that tale about the “good Samaritan.” Everyone knew there was no such thing. Surely he was not serious.

Finally, as our camera moves further back, we see the southern edge of Samaria, which is the northern border of the place known as Judea, with its main city of Jerusalem. It might help to picture this whole region of Palestine as having two lands that are Jewish, Galilee in the north and Judea in the south, with the district of Samaria dropped right in between them. But be careful with any assumptions you might make from there. Although we think of Galilee and Judea being parts of the same land that Jesus was to travel, they were actually very different places at that time. If we understand more about that, we’ll begin to understand more about Jesus and what was about to happen after that little hillside speech.

People in the land of Judea saw themselves as the only “true” people of the faith. Jerusalem was the center of the world, and the temple was the center of the city. We know they didn’t like Samaritans but it’s also important to know that they did not care much for Galileans either! To Judeans, Galilee was filled with religious lunatics, political rebels, and people who did not follow the temple traditions. The idea that a messiah might come from Galilee was as foolish as finding that good Samaritan. “Can anything good come out of Galilee?”

And, to be honest, Galilee did deserve a bit of that reputation, though not to the extent the Judeans nurtured it. While Judea was being governed by Rome, Galilee had avoided that direct control and as a result enjoyed a much more independent atmosphere. Many of the people who had strong anti-Roman feelings had fled to Galilee, and many made it their base for planning occasional attacks against Romans, many times in Judea. The Galileans also had a less strict view of the religious rules from the temple in Jerusalem. After all, it was difficult to follow rules that required you to visit the temple every week, when you had to travel all the way across Samaria to get there, so the religious rules were a bit less strict in Galilee.

As a result, Galilee also had a fair share of religious leaders who openly opposed the temple and its rules, and who called for the overthrow of the temple and Rome. There is a list of these acclaimed messiahs coming from Galilee in the years before Jesus, each of whom were eventually arrested and killed.

As we begin to zoom our camera back up north to that spot on lakeshore where Jesus was speaking to a crowd on the hillside, we have to understand that this event was not a new thing. This was Galilee. The only real question most people had in their minds as they listened today was whether or not this guy was any different than the last ones. They all started out strong, promising to get rid of Rome and to get rid of the temple, recruiting men and swords to do the work that God wanted them all to do. None had been successful so far, but maybe this time?

And that’s why the Judeans had made the trip up to hear Jesus as well. You can see them standing up near the front of the crowd, where they are easily seen by those attending. Those were the religious leaders and the keepers of the faith. The Sadducees came to listen for any harsh words about the temple and its rituals. The Pharisees came to listen for anything that might violate the laws from the sacred Jewish writings. They stood in the crowd with the Zealots who were hoping for another call to arms for battle against Rome, with the foreign travelers who were just curious, and with the poor, common people who were just living in hope.

This is where it gets interesting. Let’s zoom in really close on the Judeans.

Watch them squirm as Jesus says that part about “... whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do” (v. 2). The Judeans actually did that. When the important people went to the temple to give their offerings, they paid someone to stand and blow a trumpet so everyone knew they were giving it. The more you paid, the better trumpeter you got, and the better it made you look. Keep in mind, if one good trumpeter was an indication of your level of importance, several trumpets playing together just had to be even better. Yes, it was noisy at times.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who stand in the synagogues and street corners” (v. 5). The temple laws said that when you prayed you needed to stand and face Jerusalem. If you lived in Jerusalem, you stood and faced the temple. These folks were the ones who actually went outside and stood in the street when they prayed, so everyone knew they were good temple rule-followers. Standing proudly on the street corner, colorful robes blowing in the breeze, they’d be surrounded by a seven-piece brass section. And keep in mind, according to some historical documents there may have been as many as 10,000 of these religious leader types living in Jerusalem at this time, each with their favorite street corner.

“And when you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites do” (v. 16). The temple rules said that fasting was done as a sign of suffering, to show how sorrowful you were for your sins. The more sorrowful you look, the more miserable the fasting looks. These guys hired make-up artists to make them look really, really dismal when they were fasting, just like an actor would do. Fasting was a common ritual at the time, so there were plenty of opportunities to spruce yourself up in your best “I’m miserable” outfit and enter the competition.

In fact, to help make his point sink in, we’re told that Jesus called these people “hypocrites,” but the word he used actually meant actor. What he actually said was, “Don’t be like those actors who are pretending to be something they’re not!” You can be sure that everyone turned to stare at the Judeans as he said it. This was not the type of visibility they had come here seeking.

People had come to hear Jesus, expecting to hear another rebel attempting to overthrow the world. Instead, they heard someone say that the things of the world just don’t really matter all that much and really aren’t worth worrying about. He said they should not count on how faithful you look to have any lasting value, but count on how faithful you are in your heart.

This was new. It was very clear to that little group from Judea that this teacher was also far more dangerous than any of the others who had come before, even if it was happening in Galilee. So, as Jesus continued talking, while most of the people in the crowd listened closely, those guys from Judea, the Sadducees and the priests, had slowly moved to the back of the crowd where they were huddled together, talking about just what they were going to do about this preacher.

Before we end our story, let’s switch our view one last time. This time, pan your camera very quickly across the country and around the globe, until it focuses right here, right on this church, in this place, on this crowd of listening people. The camera is now on us.

We have also come for a variety of reasons. Some have come because this is where you are supposed to come on Ash Wednesday. Some have come to see if there is anything interesting going on. Some have come praying to find hope: some word or some act that will help you find an answer, or help your faith feel more real. Regardless of why you are here, keep the following words in your mind as you leave.

Ash Wednesday is fifty days before Easter, created to mark the beginning of a period of time for us to reflect as well as to look at our faith and the role it plays in our day-to-day lives. Sure we talk about the more “theological” things like salvation and resurrection, but it’s also a time for us to remember the more routine things Jesus talked about and did; like those things he talked about on that hillside by the lake.

We’re challenged to look at how we use our faith in our daily lives. Is our faith fueling our roles as “actors,” helping us say and do the things a pretender would say and do? Or is our faith a part of our life that actually influences how we treat other people, and what we personally believe are the most important parts of our lives? As we go through this season of Lent together, we’re going to look more closely at the stories of our faith. Be brave enough to ask questions that come up as we hear those stories and look underneath the complicated doctrines on which we sometimes spend our time focusing. Our challenge is to see if we can hear what Jesus was really saying and doing and what was really going on during those three years of his ministry. It was very real; and it is still very real.

Our Lenten journey is a challenge to us, just as Jesus’ ministry was a challenge to those in his day.

Do not be like the actors, who stand up and dress up, pretending to be something they are not. The “oohs” and “ahs” they hear during their performance are the only rewards they will ever get. Instead, be real. Give and pray without making a show. No one but God needs to know you have done it. Instead, remember that over time we usually do end up finding the treasure we seek in our lives; just make sure it is the treasure that your heart truly needs.

CSS Publishing Co., Inc., Simple Faith?: Cycle B Sermons for Lent-Easter based on the Gospel Texts, by John Jamison