Communicative Piety

At the center of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about three duties of Jewish piety – alms, prayer, and fasting. Regarding the last, He says, “when you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites, for they render their faces unrecognizable in order to be seen fasting by men. . . . But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:16-18).

Many believe that Jesus focuses on the internal demands of the law. Scribes and Pharisees are concerned with action; Jesus is concerned with attitude. There’s something to that. Jesus sets two motivations in opposition to each other: Some do righteousness to be seen by men, but disciples should do it before the Father. But Jesus doesn’t say, “Change your attitude.” He says, “Do these things, but do them differently.”

Jesus’ premise, and the premise of the hypocrites, is that these acts of righteousness are communicative acts. They say something. The question is, To whom are they addressed?

Hypocrites make a show of giving alms; they pray loudly in the temple and synagogues; when they fast, everyone can tell because they are so gloomy. They get their reward. The ones they communicate with receive the message: But they are communicating with other human beings, and their reward is to receive honor from men.

Jesus’ disciples also want their alms, prayers, and fasting to be seen and heard. Our giving and our fasting is also communication. But it isn’t communication to other people. We do it in secret because it is a whisper to God, the God who sees in secret.

Hypocrites get their reward, and Jesus promises a reward to those who do these acts of righteousness in secret. It is a better reward, from a more generous source. When we do our acts of righteousness in secret, the God who sees in secret sees us, and rewards us openly.