As recorded by Luke in chapter 12, Jesus began to speak to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you whisper in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.”
Today, this epistle delves into chapter six of Matthew. There he provides a first-hand report of Jesus speaking and His words cast Christian reflections against the dark shadows of hypocrisy.
Matthew lived many of his adult years as an apostle. He is the author of the first Gospel of the New Testament, written at least twenty years after the death of Jesus Christ. Matthew wrote this Gospel in the Hebrew language and published it in Jerusalem. There is a reason to believe that he stayed there for fifteen years, after which he went as a missionary to the Persians. Legend has it that Mathew died a martyr in Ethiopia by being speared to death in 90 AD.
The Gospel of Matthew is sometimes called a transition connecting the recorded accounts of the Old Testament with the frequent, first-hand evidence presented by the New Testament. The New Testament contains 27 different books written by nine different authors. Every author of the New Testament was Jewish except for Luke. Three of the writers: Matthew, Peter, and John were among the twelve disciples who walked with Christ during his earthly ministry.
Facts documented within the Gospel of Matthew assist us to better understand how Jesus' life and teachings were built on the foundation of the Old Testament which had come hundreds of years before Him. Matthew seems to offer more references and quotations to and from the Old Testament than any other New Testament author.
This does not mean that Matthew is restricting his Gospel to Jews. On the contrary, he is opening the Word and Wisdom of Jesus Christ to the gentiles as well. He records the coming of the non-Jewish Magi (wise men) to worship the infant Jesus, as well as Jesus’ statement that the “field is the world” which is found among the verses of Mathew 13:37-51.
Jesus answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”
These and other passages show that, although Matthew’s Gospel is directed towards the Jewish people of that era, it has a universal, timeless, mindset message.
Within the lessons from Matthew's chapter 6, we are cautioned against hypocrisy; that we must not be as the hypocrites are, nor do as the hypocrites do. We will be shown the correct way of giving our donations. Verses 5-13 teach us how to pray and what to pray for. The lines of 14-15 show how to forgive in prayer. Matthew provides instruction on fasting. Matthew 6:19-24 says we should not be concerned about storing up worldly treasures, which proves to be an uncomfortable sin of many Christians. Matthew 6:25-34 relates how we are not to worry or even concern ourselves with mundane worldly matters.
While Matthew is the author, Jesus Christ Himself is the speaker for the vast majority of this chapter. Let us begin.
“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
“For the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to you forever and ever. Amen,” Is the last line found in some of the original Greek scrolls.
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Yes, if you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, then your Father in heaven will also forgive your wrongs. But if you don’t forgive others, then your Father in heaven will not forgive the wrongs you do.
“When you fast, don’t make yourselves look selfish or prideful like the hypocrites. Often they put a look of suffering on their faces so that people will see they are fasting. The truth is, that’s all the reward they will get. So when you fast, wash your face and make yourself look “every day” pleasant. Don't get on your social media, i.e., your cell phone, Twitter, or Facebook to let everyone know you plan to be fasting. Nobody needs to know you are fasting, except God your Father, who is with you even in private. He can see what is done in private, and he will reward you. The exception to the no social media clause would be only because you are sincerely trying to entice someone else to fast. This is a “good Christian” effort when done for the correct reasons.
“Don’t save treasures for yourselves here on earth. Moths and rust will destroy them. And thieves can break into your house and steal them. The IRS can get a huge slice of your wealth even after you are dead and gone to heaven. Instead, store up your treasures in heaven, where they are yours to be used as you see fit. Here on earth, let your treasure be in God's plan of salvation.
The source of light for the body is the eyes. If you look at people and want to help them, you should be full of light, letting joy overflow you and those around you. But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be the personification of darkness. If that is the only light you have, you have lost your way into the worst kind of darkness. The “good eye” looks to God as “master” and shines on you with the “light” of God’s goodwill. The “bad eye” seeks to look for “treasures on earth” and admits only the “darkness” of greedy self-interest.
In the early 1900s, and for decades later, the word “evil” was rarely mentioned over the radio waves. Only fundamentalist preachers shouted out evil, and dozens of its synonyms, stirring mental images of hell and damnation into their flock.
But today the evidence highlighting all the atrocious and wicked events is running rampant. Our English language has several descriptions and definitions of evil: bad, black-hearted, corrupt, crooked, damnable, dastardly, degenerate, demonic, depraved, despicable, devilish, diabolical, dishonorable, fiendish, heinous, hellish, horrible, immoral, infernal, low-down, monstrous, rotten, satanic, shady, sinful, stinking, unethical, ungodly, unholy, unlawful, unrighteous, vicious, vile, and wrongful things can be noted everywhere. All those words, and more, fall under the shadows and puppet strings of evil.
On 9/11 the world had a moment of clarity. There, on the TV set, for all to see, was unadulterated, evil in its rawest form. Confusion and sorrows, yes, but clearly evil nonetheless.
Are terrorists and radical Muslims evil? You betcha! Our moment of clarity should have been when we watched the aftermaths of 9/11 because previously we saw strikes of terror as hypothetical ideas. Now terror was clearly being cast about. These people who wish to bring us down in terror, do they have any power of their own? Do they have resources that can triumph over our Christian strength? Can they attack us with explosives, bombs, or missiles that injure our Christian souls? No!
They have no power of their own to affect our path to heaven. They are empowered through the Devil's bizarre machinations of Cold War politics. They wield razor blades bought in our hardware stores, and they hijack airplanes we manufactured to better our standard of life. They strike fear in our hearts with viruses' loosed from China's laboratories, knowing full well they cannot infect a nation enough to bring us down. But they can get us really scared. They may make us alter a majority of our habits, and change our travel options, plus the very essence of our daily lives. For evil, those are victories in and of themselves. Because then, through our fear, evil and darkness are given lives of their own, becoming even more become frightening.
Knowing this is immensely useful. Once we identify evil's secret, we know how to overturn it. The strategies are almost identical, whether it be the evil that sweeps the globe or lies in the darker recesses of your own heart, waiting to terrorize you at every opportunity.
It is never easy to escape all the evil and darkness abounding about our society. Ninety-nine percent of all entertainment, be they movies, television, PlayStation games, or songs on the radio scream evil and encourage evil actions. Yes, evil is all-pervasive, it is real and layered with infections of devilish substance and power. Since it is real, then how could God allow evil's darkness in our world? No answers provided here or anywhere on earth can satisfy us entirely.
Evil is sometimes too close to be seen clearly; too painful to place an explanatory label on it. Are we perhaps callously justifying the horrors that have befallen good people? Stop! Don't try to rationalize God or let yourself off the hook. Christians wonder, without a true grasp of how to overcome all evil—how can we expect to fight it and win? You can't. But Jesus can!
The Bible's metaphor for evil is darkness. Like evil, darkness has no power of its own. We know it derives power to cause so much pain in the world from Satan. But our fear of speaking about darkness, and being fearful of evil gives Lucifer even more power and causes worse effects.
With every teaspoon of worry, we foster over evil, with every ounce of trepidation, every concession we make from our lives towards not acknowledging its threat —evil charges across the board more brazenly to attack us with our own misjudgment.
This theme is repeated throughout our Bibles. When the snake approached Eve, she wasn't expecting to give the serpent the time of day. In her world, the snakes might usually be ignored. So the snake had to gain her attention by a question. "Is it true you're not allowed to eat from any of the trees in the garden?" Of course, the snake knew he was being devious. But this way, Eve took notice and the snake became someone worth answering. And therefore, empowered to stir up quite the mess of original sin, which still taints and contaminates us even in this modern-day world.
There is no simple solution because the Devil has already nurtured evil to the point that it expands and grows each day. In the beginning, Adam and Eve could have simply ignored it and it would have eventually dissolved. Satan would have had no power over us. But once evil has been nourished and loosened, it can never be suppressed by humankind completely. It will take the strength and swords of Jesus and His army.
That is why it is so important today for us to create more light, more goodness. Even a little light and a shred of goodness cast away a lot of darkness. For every shadow of darkness we have seen, we must produce megawatts of blinding light. Doing good things in the name of Jesus, if you will. Just as those possessed by evil did the wicked and wildly hurtful things, so too must we bring kindness beyond reason to others.
Against the goodness of our hearts and the light of Jesus, evil slinks off in surrender. For, in the beginning, prideful darkness was exercised with a single intent: To squeeze out humanity's goodness and capture the souls.
Jesus said, “We cannot serve two masters at the same time.” You will hate one and love the other, or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot, at the same time, serve God and any false god that is controlling your life. You will hate one and love the other. The word hate has a similar definition here as it has in many places of Scripture. It signifies to love less so. For example, Jacob loved Rachel but hated (loved less) Leah. He loved Leah much less than he loved Rachel. God himself uses it precisely in the same sense. Jacob he loved, but Esau he hated, loved-less. God, in the course of his providence, gave to the Jews greater earthly privileges than he gave to the Edomites by choosing to make Jews the ancestors of the Messiah.
The Edomites, descendants of Esau, older brother of Jacob, battled the Jewish nation. Edom was in southeast Palestine and stretched from the bottom of the Dead Sea to the tip of the Red Sea. This area encompassed some of the most fertile lands in Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. During the fall of the First Temple, in 70 AD, the Edomites attacked Judah and looted the Temple. King David later defeated the rogue nation of Edom and confiscated rich land. Herod, by starting to build the second Temple, might be considered the most famous of all Edomites.
The Evening News often highlights the wars and strife that affect the inhabitants of these regions today.
We know Jesus said, “I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.” While this doesn't mean you cannot plan ahead or buy food for tomorrow's consumption, but we are not to stress over these choices, or lay too much importance on their determination or selection. What good does worrying do?
We are instructed; Why, for heaven's sake, worry about clothes? Look at the wildflowers in the field. See how they grow. They don’t work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that even Solomon, the great and rich king, was not dressed as beautifully as one of these flowers. If God makes what grows in the field so beautiful, what do you think he will do for you? It’s just grass—one day it’s alive, and the next day someone throws it into a fire. But God cares enough to make it beautiful. Surely he will do much more for you, even if your faith is small!
“Don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know is—God is always concerned so don’t increase your anxiety. Your Father in heaven knows what you need. Yes, buy and accumulate the necessities of life but do not stress over these. What you should want to do most is—what He wants you to do. Go forth and Baptize persons of every nation into God’s kingdom. He will provide you with all the essentials. Also, expand your charitable giving, and don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.
Christ armed his disciples against the corruptible doctrines and derivatives of the Pharisees and other sanctimonious figures of the day, especially in their erroneous interpretations of the law. He warned them against their debased practices, against the sins of hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness. The Pharisees, in their preaching and daily conversations, were notoriously guilty of these two sins. Sins of which (and all other sins) we need to guard our hearts, minds, and lips against, as hypocrisy and the lure of darkness easily besiege most, if not all, of us. It is not only the most rabid debasements that arise through lust, pride, and greed that are highly dangerous to one's sanctification, it is the constant outpouring and bombardment of modern-day's “acceptable sins” we should be more on guard against.
Do not fight evil and darkness alone—come to Jesus.
