“Practicing Your Piety”

Ash Wednesday 2006

              Dear Christian Friends, God’s grace and peace be with you.  Amen.

              When I was in college I was involved with the theater group on campus and I loved to be on stage.  It was a chance to be someone else for a while, whether it be serious or comic.  What the audience saw was my outward appearance, a character playing a role.  They did not know the real me, who I was on the inside.

              For many people, that is how they live their lives, pretending to be someone else than who they really are.  What people see on the outside can be different from what might be on the inside.  In school, students learn what outward signs of attention will please the teacher.  At the job, the employee can learn to “put up a good front” whenever the boss happens to come around.  We are conscious of our outward appearance, how we style our hair, what clothes we wear, even how we walk or stand so to impress those around us.  The problem is that this “hypocrisy” can be part of our religious life and affect our relationship with God.

              Jesus said, “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.”  Jesus’ concern is in connecting our outward appearance with proper inward motivation.  In Jesus’ day, religious people tried to impress each other with showy outward behavior.  They took what was good and proper practices of the faith and turned them into a show.  They would blast the trumpet when they gave alms, disfigure their faces to show how hungry they were from fasting, or stand up on the street corners with loud and long prayers so that people could see that they were faithful in praying.  They turned what was good and right and proper into a sham.  As if playing a part on stage, Jesus condemns this “hypocrisy,” saying they can have what they are seeking – the praise and attention of others.

              Jesus says it shall not be with you.  Jesus calls his disciples, he calls you and me, to practice our piety, the disciplines of faith, in secret so that not even our left hand will know what the right hand is doing, for what we do in secret, God will see and God will reward us.  God’s reward, however, is not of the kind that the hypocrites desire or receive; it does not raise us higher up on the social ladder or increase our political approval ratings, nor shower us with material wealth and gain.  God’s reward consists of a true and right relationship with God himself.  To the people who live for the things of the world, this does not seem like a reward at all.  But for the person of faith, what greater reward can there be than being in fellowship and right relationship with God?

              The Lenten season is typically the time that we practice our piety with renewed interest.  The devotional acts that are highlighted in our text are ancient, not only part of the Jewish faith, but of many religious faiths, including Christian.  The first act is giving.  Almsgiving is sharing what is wholly ours with someone else, especially those in need.  Our act of giving is a participation in God who is the giver of all things.  As God gives freely, generously, and continually, we are to give in the same way.  The practice of giving alms breaks us free from fearful and anxious living, thinking we will not have enough. 

              Another aspect of almsgiving that expands our understanding is the giving away of forgiveness, an act of generosity that affects not only the person being forgiven, but also the one who forgives.  Again, it sets us free from a bondage that can only hurt us as we hold on to anger, revenge, and bitterness.  The gift of forgiveness mends the broken relationship and releases one’s guilt and shame.  A gift we all need.

              Another devotional act highlighted is prayer.  Our prayers are to be directed toward God who is the source of all comfort, healing, and strength.  We pray in perfect confidence that God will hear our prayers and answer them according to God’s good and gracious will.  Our text does not include it, but at the center of these verses is Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray, giving to them what we know as the Lord’s Prayer.  It is the model for prayer, encompassing all of the different aspects of prayer such as adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication.  A deeper prayer life centers us upon God who is always present and available to help, encourage and strengthen us in our lives of faith.

              The third devotional act is fasting.  It is going without in order to highlight the suffering and needs of others.  Fasting humbles us by showing us our limits and our frailty.  It reminds us of our dependence on God and one another.  Our understanding of fasting can be expanded to include much more than just food, but also a curbing of our appetite for constant consumption, accumulation, and gain of material things.  It brings back into balance for us the difference between our needs and our wants.

              These three devotional acts are good and important for our Lenten observance. The problem is that our desire to promote ourselves and gain some kind of benefit or recognition from them turns them into a curse rather than a blessing.  This, of course, is the root of sin, placing ME, MYSELF, and I at the center.  When we begin to ask, “What’s in it for me?” then we are not participating in what is God pleasing, but in what pleases our fallen, human nature.  That brings us back to what Ash Wednesday is all about and the last devotional act that has an affect on all the others, that being REPENTANCE. We are called to repent, to admit our sin in thought, word, and deed, and ask for God’s forgiveness.  It is only God who can change this basic orientation of our lives.  We are sinners.  We are self-centered, selfish individuals who turn our devotional acts into a self promotion.  It is only God who can do for us what we can not do for ourselves, cleanse us of our sin and make us new. 

              Through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, Jesus forgives you your sins and gives you a new life.  God loves you and forgives you.  God sets you free to live a life that is fully pleasing to him, a life where you can again practice your piety in the proper way - for the benefit of your neighbor.  God’s grace enables us to give freely and generously, to pray unceasingly for our needs and the needs of others, to refrain from the over indulgence and consumption that plagues our society so that all people may have their basic needs met and have enough to live on.  Forgiven, redeemed, and made new, we serve God in secret because the only reward we seek is a closer relationship with God.  This kind of life is really life.  It is who we are as disciples of Jesus.  It is what it means to be a Christian.  Thanks be to God who makes this life possible.  Amen.