At this point in the Sermon, we move from items of personal ethics to those of religious observances.
Matthew 6:1
The word piety is translated elsewhere as righteousness. This thought follows naturally the previous verses; those who try on their own to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees (5:20) will then be faced with the temptation to show everyone how righteous they are. C. S. Lewis warns in The Screwtape Letters about about Satan constantly changing his strategy and attacking you from the opposite angle.
Chapter 6 covers three aspects of our spiritual life: giving, praying (an interlude in which he gives the Lord's Prayer, which we will cover elsewhere) and fasting. Jesus does not at all prohibit these, but expects that Christians will do all three. This is in contrast to the Gospel of Thomas, which has Jesus saying, “If you fast, you will beget sin for yourself; if you pray, you will be condemned; if you give alms, you will do evil to your spirits.”
Each section has the same general format:
“Whenever you..., do not...like the hypocrites...Truly I tell you, they have received their reward...
But when you..., your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The original Greek word for hypocrite applied to an actor who was playing a part. There is an old theater excavated at Sepphoris that may date to Jesus’ time. It is located only four miles from Nazareth where Jesus grew up. We are actually acting for an audience of one – God. One commentator suggests that hypocrites are not so much deceiving others as they are self-deceived.
This brings up the whole idea of rewards. One possible interpretation is that salvation is our reward. The hypocrites trade it in for earthly glory and will not be saved. Commercial documents of the time d the phrase “have their reward” to mean the debt is paid in full.
“Rewards from God are more 'gift' than 'reward' and the final reward is the gift of life in God's kingdom.” – Philip Harner.
The other possible interpretation is that both categories will be saved, but the hypocrites will not get any further rewards in heaven. Read the parable in Luke 18:9-14 as a possible example.
Matthew 6:2-4
In verse 1, “you” was in the plural; here he personalizes the teaching by switching to the singular “you.” Go back to 5:16. How do we reconcile the two? A friend of mine once asked a question about financial support for missionaries. Is it better to directly support them to encourage them and so that they would know that they are being prayed for, or should our money be given to the church's or denomination's missionary budget anonymously for them to distribute it? It probably boils down to the matter of motive.
Roman philanthropy included grand public displays and commemorative plaques. Do we do this with flowers, pews, or stained glass windows given by us to the church?
Blowing trumpets may be sarcastic or may refer to the practice of blowing trumpets in the temple to announce the taking up of a special offering.
Matthew 6:5-8
What about leading the congregation in public prayer?
The singular “you” here may indicate that private prayer rather than leading in corporate prayer is mainly in mind. Praying and reading in the ancient world were almost always done out loud so that you literally had to go in your room and close the door so that no one could hear you.
Synagogue prayer was made standing in front of the ark of the law. But in times of public fasting and other special occasions, it could be offered in the streets.
Verse 6. The evangelist said, “We should never utter one syllable of prayer, either in public or in private, until we are definitely conscious that we have come into the presence of God and are actually praying to Him.”
Verse 7. This may possibly be a reference to the Gentile use of speaking in tongues. Alternatively, “Gentiles” may refer to those who are not Jesus' followers. Read Ecclesiastes 5:2 for the possible origin of Jesus' words.
Matthew 6:16-18
In the OT, fasting was an expression of mourning and practiced on the Day of Atonement. By Jesus' time, there were weekly fasts. Fasting is rarely mentioned in the Gospels, twice in Acts in conjunction with the church making an important decision, and not at all in Paul's writings.
One commentator suggests that perhaps we know so little about the practice of fasting among early Christians because they did it privately.
The very early Christian document, Didache (or Teachings of the Twelve Apostles) got these verses totally wrong: “Let not your fasts be with the hypocrites, for they fast on Mondays and Thursdays, but you should fast on Wednesdays and Fridays.”
This could involve fasting from things other than food (as in Lent). Remember that Daniel, when he fasted in Chapter 10, also stopped drinking wine and anointing himself with oil.
One of the most “spiritual” people in a small church group I attended came to a well-publicized-in-advance potluck dinner. He was quite conspicuous in being the only one not eating anything. When asked why, he replied that God had told him to fast that day. I will probably be accused to judging my fellow Christian's motives, but the timing of his fast seemed suspicious to me.
Read Mark 2:18-20. What are the implications for today, if any? Should we fast more often? Should we fast at all? Why fast?
Practical application of fasting: We learn something interesting from a defense of Christianity made by
Aristides (an Athenian philosopher) to Emperor Hadrian: “If there is among them [i.e., Christians] a
man that is poor or needy, and they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast two or three days
that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.” This is the type of fast that is certainly
pleasing to God.
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