Early in my Christian life I had a conversation with a trusted friend and spiritual advisor out in
California. I was troubled by the fact that I seemed to be gearing a lot of my behavior around being
approved of by my Christian friends. If they approved of me it meant I was doing OK. And if they
admired me, that was even better, and on top of that it just felt good.
The approval and admiration of others can still be a seductive temptation. Many clergy struggle with
this. For many of us it seems to be in our makeup. When I become aware of this temptation, I try to
bring to mind what my friend, Tim, said to me one day a little over 20 years ago. He said that the
key question is, “Who is your audience?” Who is it you’re trying to please when you do those “right
things?”
This, in effect, is what Jesus speaks to in our Ash Wednesday Gospel reading. Rather than doing
our good actions for others, he says we need to be aware of the One who sees us in secret, and to
have the right kind of motivation in our hearts. Jesus begins by saying “Beware of practicing your
piety before others in order to be seen by them.” The noun from the Greek translated as “piety”
actually is more often translated as “righteousness.” But rather than using either one, I’m going to
break with convention just a bit by using Eugene Peterson’s delightful paraphrase from The
Message. This rendering uses the word “goodness,” or being good. After all, this is what
righteousness actually is: being good, as God defines the word. I think that this brings the meaning
a bit closer to home. In Peterson’s version, Jesus’ words read this way: “Be especially careful when
you’re trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater,
but the God who made you won’t be applauding.”
I love that rendering. For me it sort of conjures up an image of God the Father looking at us over
his reading glasses, with eyebrows raised when we get carried away and start strutting our
“goodness” for our friends and neighbors. I admit this is sort of an anthropomorphic view of God,
but I can almost hear Him gently clearing His throat to remind us for Whom we should be doing our
acts of goodness.
Goodness, or righteousness if you prefer, is simply acting in the way God wants us to act. It’s being
who God wants us to be, as His faithful children. I don’t imagine that’s a big surprise to any of us.
And this is the first thing that Jesus is telling us—that acts of goodness are expected from us. His
teaching on our motivation for acts of goodness presumes that we’re engaging in acts of goodness
in the first place. Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey, you’re doing all this stuff for the wrong reasons, so you
might as well not even bother trying to be good.”
No, what we do is important, and it matters very much to God. But we simply need to be mindful that
when this becomes show time for others, our motivation’s in the wrong place.
Jesus spells out three examples of acts of goodness to illustrate this point. He refers to giving alms,
praying, and fasting. All three of these activities are closely connected with Lent. Almsgiving is,
quite simply, giving to the needy. This was so central to the Jews that the Hebrew word for
almsgiving is the same as the word translated as “righteousness.” Almsgiving is perhaps the most
straightforward way to demonstrate the love of neighbor as oneself. As followers of Jesus, acts of
charity toward those in need are expected of us no less now than they were among first century
Jews.
What does Jesus say about it? Peterson’s paraphrase of His words goes like this: “When you help
someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the way
your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” Our lectionary
version says that God sees us in secret, and will reward us if our motives are right. Peterson refers
to God working “behind the scenes.” I like that because, even as we draw the curtain down before
our audience, God’s still with us in the wings, watching. He’s the one from whom we simply can’t
hide our thoughts, actions and motives.
So Jesus’ instruction is for us to be natural, and humble, and to do our good works for the love of
God. He says that when we do this, God the Father will reward us richly.
The second practice Jesus mentions, prayer, is the means by which we communicate with the Triune
God. Is prayer important? Think about it—communication is just about the only way that we have
any kind of relationship. In my work as a marriage and family therapist one of the first things I’d look
for when family relationships broke down was a breakdown in communication. When there’s no
prayer, there’s no communication, so it’s awfully hard to have a relationship with God. In fact, St.
Teresa of Avila once said, “Prayer is nothing else but being put on terms of friendship with God,
frequently conversing with him in secret.”
Our motivation for prayer ties in closely with this. In Peterson’s paraphrase Jesus says, “And when
you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production, either. All these people making a
regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here’s
what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before
God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to
God, and you’ll begin to sense His grace.”
The focus will shift from you to God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “If we only spent more of our time in
looking at him we should soon forget ourselves.” I think that captures well what Jesus is telling his
followers in this entire passage. When we talk with God simply and honestly, without self-
consciousness or concern about how we look to others, again, God will reward us richly. He’ll
reward us in this life with a growing, life-giving relationship and in the next we’ll enter into His
presence as one who knows Him and is known by Him.
The third practice Jesus talks about is fasting. This may be the most defining activity of Lent in the
historic church. Fasting is the discipline of abstaining from food for a period of time. It helps to
strengthen a person’s spiritual life by weakening the sensory distractions that divert our attention
from God. In other words, it helps us to break our enslavement to the things of this life in order to
better focus on the ultimate Provider of these things. In the New Testament fasting is almost always
associated with prayer—that phone line to God the Provider.
Fasting, too, can be used the wrong way. Again, here’s Peterson’s paraphrase of Jesus’ words:
“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a
production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you
go into training inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth,
wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are
doing; he’ll reward you well.”
For all of its homespun language, I think this pretty well sums up what Jesus is trying to convey to
us. What he’s telling us is that our motivation makes all the difference in the world. So much so that
if we do our good works for the admiration of others, that’s the only reward we’re likely to get.
So Jesus encourages us to practice acts of goodness with God in our sights, not man or for that
matter, anything else. When we practice them to impress others, or practice them for no other
reason than they’re what we traditionally do during Lent, these acts are basically meaningless, and
remain unblessed.
But if we do them with God as our audience, to enhance our relationship with Him and to do His will,
nothing in the universe can prevent us from being blessed by Him.
I’d like to conclude by encouraging all of us to think of Lent not so much as an obligation, but as an
opportunity. It’s an opportunity to reassess how we’re doing with God, to retune our spirituality, and
to draw closer to the Lord who gives us life. The One who first loved us has expectations for us, but
we can rejoice that He’s not simply a demanding taskmaster. Rather, He’s the One who knows what
gives us life and eternal blessing, and loves us far too much to keep us in the dark about how to
draw from both of these. And Jesus tells us that the reward for the giving seen in secret by our
Father in heaven is treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves
are powerless to break in and steal. Lent is a time when we’re reminded how and where to focus
our energies in this life. And Ash Wednesday is a time when we’re reminded that our faith isn’t a
game or a spectator sport. We’re reminded that we’re mortal and we’re answerable to our Maker
who gives us life.
As we live life each day, may we remember more consistently who our audience is. May we seek the
best motives as we do the good works the Lord has given us to do. And in this Lent may we with
hungry and persistent hearts draw into closer relationship with Him as we look ahead to the
celebration of His Resurrection.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
California. I was troubled by the fact that I seemed to be gearing a lot of my behavior around being
approved of by my Christian friends. If they approved of me it meant I was doing OK. And if they
admired me, that was even better, and on top of that it just felt good.
The approval and admiration of others can still be a seductive temptation. Many clergy struggle with
this. For many of us it seems to be in our makeup. When I become aware of this temptation, I try to
bring to mind what my friend, Tim, said to me one day a little over 20 years ago. He said that the
key question is, “Who is your audience?” Who is it you’re trying to please when you do those “right
things?”
This, in effect, is what Jesus speaks to in our Ash Wednesday Gospel reading. Rather than doing
our good actions for others, he says we need to be aware of the One who sees us in secret, and to
have the right kind of motivation in our hearts. Jesus begins by saying “Beware of practicing your
piety before others in order to be seen by them.” The noun from the Greek translated as “piety”
actually is more often translated as “righteousness.” But rather than using either one, I’m going to
break with convention just a bit by using Eugene Peterson’s delightful paraphrase from The
Message. This rendering uses the word “goodness,” or being good. After all, this is what
righteousness actually is: being good, as God defines the word. I think that this brings the meaning
a bit closer to home. In Peterson’s version, Jesus’ words read this way: “Be especially careful when
you’re trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater,
but the God who made you won’t be applauding.”
I love that rendering. For me it sort of conjures up an image of God the Father looking at us over
his reading glasses, with eyebrows raised when we get carried away and start strutting our
“goodness” for our friends and neighbors. I admit this is sort of an anthropomorphic view of God,
but I can almost hear Him gently clearing His throat to remind us for Whom we should be doing our
acts of goodness.
Goodness, or righteousness if you prefer, is simply acting in the way God wants us to act. It’s being
who God wants us to be, as His faithful children. I don’t imagine that’s a big surprise to any of us.
And this is the first thing that Jesus is telling us—that acts of goodness are expected from us. His
teaching on our motivation for acts of goodness presumes that we’re engaging in acts of goodness
in the first place. Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey, you’re doing all this stuff for the wrong reasons, so you
might as well not even bother trying to be good.”
No, what we do is important, and it matters very much to God. But we simply need to be mindful that
when this becomes show time for others, our motivation’s in the wrong place.
Jesus spells out three examples of acts of goodness to illustrate this point. He refers to giving alms,
praying, and fasting. All three of these activities are closely connected with Lent. Almsgiving is,
quite simply, giving to the needy. This was so central to the Jews that the Hebrew word for
almsgiving is the same as the word translated as “righteousness.” Almsgiving is perhaps the most
straightforward way to demonstrate the love of neighbor as oneself. As followers of Jesus, acts of
charity toward those in need are expected of us no less now than they were among first century
Jews.
What does Jesus say about it? Peterson’s paraphrase of His words goes like this: “When you help
someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That’s the way
your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.” Our lectionary
version says that God sees us in secret, and will reward us if our motives are right. Peterson refers
to God working “behind the scenes.” I like that because, even as we draw the curtain down before
our audience, God’s still with us in the wings, watching. He’s the one from whom we simply can’t
hide our thoughts, actions and motives.
So Jesus’ instruction is for us to be natural, and humble, and to do our good works for the love of
God. He says that when we do this, God the Father will reward us richly.
The second practice Jesus mentions, prayer, is the means by which we communicate with the Triune
God. Is prayer important? Think about it—communication is just about the only way that we have
any kind of relationship. In my work as a marriage and family therapist one of the first things I’d look
for when family relationships broke down was a breakdown in communication. When there’s no
prayer, there’s no communication, so it’s awfully hard to have a relationship with God. In fact, St.
Teresa of Avila once said, “Prayer is nothing else but being put on terms of friendship with God,
frequently conversing with him in secret.”
Our motivation for prayer ties in closely with this. In Peterson’s paraphrase Jesus says, “And when
you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production, either. All these people making a
regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here’s
what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before
God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to
God, and you’ll begin to sense His grace.”
The focus will shift from you to God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “If we only spent more of our time in
looking at him we should soon forget ourselves.” I think that captures well what Jesus is telling his
followers in this entire passage. When we talk with God simply and honestly, without self-
consciousness or concern about how we look to others, again, God will reward us richly. He’ll
reward us in this life with a growing, life-giving relationship and in the next we’ll enter into His
presence as one who knows Him and is known by Him.
The third practice Jesus talks about is fasting. This may be the most defining activity of Lent in the
historic church. Fasting is the discipline of abstaining from food for a period of time. It helps to
strengthen a person’s spiritual life by weakening the sensory distractions that divert our attention
from God. In other words, it helps us to break our enslavement to the things of this life in order to
better focus on the ultimate Provider of these things. In the New Testament fasting is almost always
associated with prayer—that phone line to God the Provider.
Fasting, too, can be used the wrong way. Again, here’s Peterson’s paraphrase of Jesus’ words:
“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a
production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you
go into training inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth,
wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are
doing; he’ll reward you well.”
For all of its homespun language, I think this pretty well sums up what Jesus is trying to convey to
us. What he’s telling us is that our motivation makes all the difference in the world. So much so that
if we do our good works for the admiration of others, that’s the only reward we’re likely to get.
So Jesus encourages us to practice acts of goodness with God in our sights, not man or for that
matter, anything else. When we practice them to impress others, or practice them for no other
reason than they’re what we traditionally do during Lent, these acts are basically meaningless, and
remain unblessed.
But if we do them with God as our audience, to enhance our relationship with Him and to do His will,
nothing in the universe can prevent us from being blessed by Him.
I’d like to conclude by encouraging all of us to think of Lent not so much as an obligation, but as an
opportunity. It’s an opportunity to reassess how we’re doing with God, to retune our spirituality, and
to draw closer to the Lord who gives us life. The One who first loved us has expectations for us, but
we can rejoice that He’s not simply a demanding taskmaster. Rather, He’s the One who knows what
gives us life and eternal blessing, and loves us far too much to keep us in the dark about how to
draw from both of these. And Jesus tells us that the reward for the giving seen in secret by our
Father in heaven is treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves
are powerless to break in and steal. Lent is a time when we’re reminded how and where to focus
our energies in this life. And Ash Wednesday is a time when we’re reminded that our faith isn’t a
game or a spectator sport. We’re reminded that we’re mortal and we’re answerable to our Maker
who gives us life.
As we live life each day, may we remember more consistently who our audience is. May we seek the
best motives as we do the good works the Lord has given us to do. And in this Lent may we with
hungry and persistent hearts draw into closer relationship with Him as we look ahead to the
celebration of His Resurrection.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Who Is Your Audience
Ash Wednesday 2008
Ash Wednesday 2008
February 6, 2008
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton