Matthew 6:1 ¶ Take heed
that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no
reward of your Father which is in heaven. 2
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet
before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that
they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy
left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4
That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret
himself shall reward thee openly.
Giving of alms, what we call charity today, was the giving of food
and money to the poor and indigent. From the Jewish Encyclopedia we have this;
According to the
Mosaic conception, wealth is a loan from God, and the poor have a certain claim
on the possessions of the rich; while the rich are positively enjoined to share
God's bounties with the poor. A systematic mode of relief of the needy was, therefore,
provided by the law and by the institutions of the synagogue. But all these
provisions could not entirely remove want. "The poor shall never cease out
of the land," says the lawgiver, and commands: "Thou shalt open thine
hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land"
(Deut. xv. 11). In the course of time the giving of Alms out of mere pity and
without regard to the permanent relief of the recipient, became a meritorious
practise, possessing, like sacrifice, the power of atoning for man's sins, and
redeeming him from calamity and death.[1]
This principle shows us that if you give
money and services openly trumpeting your charity publicly like a corporation
presenting a giant check to some group and posting the picture of the ceremony
online you have your reward.
Matthew 6:5 ¶ And when thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray
standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be
seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in
secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their
much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore
like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye
ask him.
This is a tough one for me to talk about because I am not known
for long-winded prayers nor do I like it when someone preaches at me while
allegedly praying to God. But is this a condemnation of public prayer? I don’t
believe God rejects any sincere prayer and it does look like Solomon made a
very public prayer on his knees in 2Chronicles 6 although some would insist
that the text does not literally say he said the prayer loud enough for a crowd
to here. I mean, he could have. Remember that Ben Franklin noted that George
Whitefield, in certain venues, could be heard a half mile away. Whether he was
exaggerating or not I can’t say.
In any event, the context of the entire passage tells us that repetitive
prayers, pagan chanting; the repetitive chanting of words and phrases which
I’ve read was common among pagan religions is condemned by Christ. Prayers
should be sincere, from the heart, asking God or praising God. We must
understand that it is not the power of prayer but the power of the one being
prayed to that matters.
Some sources say that ancient priests would claim power over their
gods and natural events with a chant repeated over and over again, much like a
misguided Christian who thinks if they repeat the so-called Lord’s Prayer over
and over they will be protected from harm.
[1] Kaufmann Kohler, “Alms,” Jewish
Encyclopedia, https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1295-alms (accessed 05 Aug 2022).
No comments:
Post a Comment