"Only God Needs to See It"

 

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Ash Wednesday

February 18, 2026

 

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

…

¹⁶‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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Sometime during Lent I usually try to make time to listen to “Jesus Christ, Superstar”.  It’s one of the things that I do that makes me think about how much was going on during the week leading up to Jesus’ death and every so often a phrase or two from the show gets into my head.  This week it came from a song toward the beginning, when Judas sees Mary Magdalene anointing Jesus and acts appalled that Jesus is letting “someone like her” (as he puts it) even touch him.  Judas is scared of what people will think, and even more scared of the Temple authorities and the Romans.  He says to Jesus, “It doesn’t help us if you’re inconsistent.  They only need a little thing to put us all away.” 

Inconsistency, if we’re honest, is a problem sometimes if you read through the Sermon on the Mount just quickly.  Two Sundays ago, we were hearing Matthew 5:16 –

“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Today we hear Matthew 6 where Jesus says things like

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them” [6:1] and

“When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret” [6:3-4] and

“Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door”. [6:6]

Sure, some of it has to do with motivation.  Are you really praying if you are doing it just to be seen or heard by anybody other than God?  Is it really prayer if it’s a matter of performance?

I knew a woman who was part of a charismatic Catholic prayer group.  She had cancer and was coming to the end here, and she told me that when the time came, before the casket was closed, she wanted the group to gather around it and pray in tongues.  So when the viewing was about to move on to the service, I stood there with them and we all held hands and bowed our heads, then they began to make sounds that were their way of praying.  It began and ended in a very orderly way.  To this day, though, I cannot help but wonder how much was the Spirit speaking with their spirits and how much was meeting the expectations of their friend, out of love. 

That friendship, that love, and the faith that was part of it makes me feel more charitable than when I see someone on television get swept up into a swirling cloud of oratory until the sweat runs down the back of their neck or the tears leave trails of mascara down their cheeks.

So, taking these teachings of Jesus together as a whole, it seems to me that what he really asks of us is to be genuine in bringing our lives before God in prayer and bringing God’s ways into our lives.  We don’t have to point at ourselves, but people will see both what we get right and where we fail – and they’ll also know when we try to do better.  We are not as consistent ourselves as we should be, but to be aware of the potential hypocrisies and to wrestle with them is actually a part of repentance.  Isaiah knew it as well as Jesus, when he told the people of his own day,

“Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,

and oppress all your workers.

 Look, you fast only to fight

and to strike with a wicked fist. …

 

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?” [Isaiah 58:3-4, 6]

 

The good works that really shine out are the ones that happen when somebody is not trying to score points, but when they are doing what is just the right thing to do.

There’s a quotation from Mother Teresa that says, “Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love.”  The group “The Potter’s Gate” turned that into a song.

“In the garden of our Savior

no flower grows unseen.

His kindness rains like water

on every humble seed.

No simple act of mercy escapes His watchful eye

For there is One who sees   me-

His hand is over mine

 

In the kingdom of the heavens

no suffering is unknown.

Each tear that falls is holy,

each breaking heart a throne.

There is a song of beauty in every weeping eye,

For there is One who knows me-

His heart, it breaks with mine.

 

O the deeds forgotten, O the works unseen.

Every drink of water flowing graciously,

every tender mercy You're making glorious.

This You have asked of us:

Do little things with great love,

little things with great

 love.”

 

That would be my prayer for all of us this season.