Hey everyone. Welcome back to the Daily gospel, exegesis podcast. Produced biological Bible study. Our goal in this podcast, is to help you really understand the text of the Bible. We do a verse by verse exegesis into the text of the Gospel reading. You would hear it today's mass. So, a really helping you understand, The very words that Jesus used. What did he mean in his original context? And we're faithful to the teaching of the church?
We start with the literal sense of the text, which is where we must start as Catholics. So today's reading is a really interesting one one, you've probably heard many times but perhaps one you haven't really thought about it. And it's quite an important one to understand. We're in The Sermon on the Mount here. So Matthew chapter 6, verses 1 to 6 and then verses 16 to 18. Jesus said to his disciples, be careful, not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice.
By doing this, you will lose all reward from your father in Heaven. So when you give arms, do not have a trumpeted before you, this is what the Hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men's admiration, I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward, but when you give arms, your left hand, must not know what your right is doing. Your arms, giving must be secret and your father, who sees all that is done, in secret will
reward you. And when you pray do not imitate the Hypocrites, they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward but when you pray, go to your private room and when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in that secret place and your father who sees all that is done.
In secret will reward you. When you fast do not put on a gloomy, look as the Hypocrites. Do they pull long faces to? Let me know that they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward but when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face so that no one will know that you are fasting except your father who sees all that he's done in secret and your father, who sees all that is done. In secret will reward you.
So that's our text for today. A very important one in understanding, what Jesus expects of Christians. So we're in The Sermon on the Mount, which is where Jesus gives an extended sermon across. Matthew, 527, contrasting, what some people in his time thought righteousness was with what true righteousness actually is. So the whole sermon is a teaching on. What does it mean to be truly? Holy truly righteous. And it's well worth doing a full study on the entire Sermon on the Mount.
You can hear the entire A sermon during week, 10 11, and 12 of ordinary time, we go through it verse by verse, as part of this podcast. So Jesus just before this in the sermon has said you have heard it said but I say to you so he's done a whole series of those things. Now we get to today's text and we need to make a couple of comments before we get into today's text. Jesus is going to refer here to a person that he calls a
hypocrite. A hypocrite, can mean different things in today's society, but in Jesus time and basically meant, it was a technical term referring to someone who wears a mask. So it's like a stage actor. Someone who's playing a role. And in the context of when Jesus speaks in his sermons, typically a hypocrite is someone who pretends to be righteous externally. So by all appearances, they are righteous.
If you were to look at someone a hypocrite, they would appear to be righteous externally but internally Lee, they're not righteous. They don't have true righteousness. So on the outside they might appear to be righteous but internally they're not and Jesus primarily refers to the Pharisees as Hypocrites. Although in his sermon, here he doesn't specifically lists the Pharisees at every single point. So, certainly, it's true to say that anyone who does the things in hypocritical way.
Jesus criticism is leveled at them. Jesus, in today's reading is going to address three different practices. He wants his disciples to do but not in the way that the Hypocrites do. So he's going to talk about three practices a bad way of doing them and then the right way to do them. So the three practices are giving arms praying and fasting. Those are the three that are mentioned today.
Now if those three things sound familiar to you as a Catholic, there's probably a good reason for that. So, giving arms praying, and fasting. Other three, things traditionally, considered to be the basic Good Deeds that Christians should do in order. Did you draw closer to God? And in fact, they'll listed in the Bible as the three things that followers of God should do to make Penance for their sins. That's in tobert chapter 12 verses 8 to 10. It actually lists those three
and four. Catholics these three things are very prominent during Lent, which is why this reading is read on Ash Wednesday. So, Jesus says that for each of these three things, giving arms praying and fasting. There's a right way, and a wrong way of doing it. So, let's Art here at verse 1. Jesus said to his disciples now that's in our lectionary but it's not in the original. Jesus is not necessarily speaking to his disciples here.
It looks like he's speaking to a large crowds probably crowds of people who are interested in being Christian. Here's what he says first be careful not to parade your good deeds before men in order to attract their notice another word there for good. Deeds is piety be careful. Not to parade your piety before men in order to attract their noses. Now notice here, let's read the sentence carefully. Jesus doesn't say be careful not to do good deeds. That's not what he says.
He says Don't parade your good deeds before men in order to attract their notice. So Jesus here is not saying don't let other people see your good deeds. In fact, elsewhere in Matthew, he says there's a good there's a time for that. He says that when people see your good deeds they will see us a shining our light. And those other people who see our good deeds will glorify God. So, there's certainly a time and a place Ace for having other
people. See your good deeds as a Christian but he says don't do good deeds in order to attract their attention that would be the wrong motive so we can't do good deeds as Christians in order to attract the notice of others that would be a wrong motivation and Jesus goes on. He says, if you do this, you will lose all reward from your father in Heaven. This is an interesting phrase reward from your father in Heaven.
This seems to imply that there are different Freeze of reward in heaven, when you get to the kingdom and those different metaphors that are used, but when you get to the kingdom of heaven, the final new heavens and new earth.
The picture we get from the New Testament is some people will have more rewards than others and that is unpacked, later in the New Testament. And that does Calment come in to Catholic teaching even today Jesus, he is says that if a Christian even someone who is in the Kingdom, if they continually do acts for self-gain, they lose mirror before. For God and therefore they lose some of their rewards in heaven. This is a controversial teaching.
We don't often talk about it. But certainly even for Christians, your conduct in this life can affect your level of Merit or rewards in the next life. And there's lots of good theological writings about this and certainly it is Jesus own teaching verse 2 when you give arms. Now arms giving that basically just means giving money to the poor. Jews were expected to give money to the poor. That's in Deuteronomy 15. 11 notice Jesus. Here assumes that Christians are going to do it.
It's part of basic Christian Duty when you give arms, do not have a trumpeted before you. So this is a metaphor. That means attention-seeking, don't give money to the poor. In order to seek attention, that would be the wrong motive. Jesus goes on, this is what the Hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win admiration or more. Literally what it says there is that they may be praised by men.
So, In the local synagogues, the Pharisees and other prominent Jews would come out the front and they would put money in the Box in order that everyone would see them and say about them. Ooh isn't that person so wholly. So there would do these good acts in the synagogues and sometimes on the streets as well in a very visible way so that everyone would look at them and realize how holy they are because they wanted to receive
praise from others. This is the problem with the Pharisees and the other Jewish leaders. At the time, one of the issues is they're doing these These things that in and of themselves are good but they're doing them in order to get praise from others. And that is a wrong motivation and that does not get you any Merit before. God Jesus says, I tell you solemnly or more literally, truly I say to you and whenever
you hear that, that's a flag. That Jesus is about to say something important, they have had their reward. So for the Hypocrites who do these things for attention, the attention of men is their reward. They've already gotten their reward, they're not going to get any more rewards from God in heaven. They lose their Merit before God when they do these things with selfish motive verse 3, when you give arms your left hand, must not know what your right hand is doing.
Now, this has to be what we call a hyperbole or an exaggeration. It's not metaphysically possible for your left hand, to not know what your right hand is doing. So here we have a clear example where Jesus is definitely exaggerating in order to make a point and certainly Jewish teachers in his time, would do exactly that. What he means when he exaggerated here, is something like this when you do good, it must not be so that others will notice just do it in secret as
far as possible. That's basically what he's trying to say verse for your arms, giving must be secret. So that's literally what he says next. Now, sometimes it's not possible for it to be entirely secret. There will be people who probably see you giving money just by chance, but Jesus teaching is that As far as possible, your arms, giving has to be private and secret less you fall into pride and attention seeking. If you do this, your father who sees all that is done in secret.
Notice, this is an affirmation of God's omnipotence. God sees and in fact knows his omniscience. He sees and knows everything that is done. Even if other people don't see you giving arms. God always sees it. Jesus says your father who sees all that is done, in secret will reward you. So you can build up merits before God by doing good acts for the sake of God that is Jesus teaching. Here verse 5, Jesus turns his attention to prayer. Nell When you pray do not imitate the Hypocrites.
So once again he's going to tell us how the Hypocrites do it badly. They love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogue's now. The first thing to say here is Jesus is not condemning standing prayers. That was actually the normal prayer posture for most of the Jewish history. So Jesus is not saying don't stand up when you pray, what he is doing is he's condemning praying in a position. Ocean where everyone can see them.
So if you can imagine a Pharisee sort of standing up in a high place so that everyone can see him pray. Jesus says, you can't do that. So he says they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners. So the Pharisees and others would literally stand on the street corners in a very visible spot, so that everyone who's passing by can look at them and think. Wow. Isn't that man, righteous? So they would literally say their prayers in a visible position.
Because they wanted other people to think that they're righteous. So the Pharisees in the Jewish leaders in a way, their position was appointed by God, there did need to be authoritative leaders of the Jewish people. It's just that by the time of Jesus, the Pharisees and some of these other Jewish leaders had missed the point. And in fact, many of them have become quite selfish and attention-seeking. And that was the problem. So, Jesus will now tell us how
he expects Christians to pray. When you pray, go to your private. Ivett room. Now this is an interesting one and Scholars are a bit divided on what exactly. This means some people have looked at this phrase go to your private room and have said well people didn't have their own bedroom in those days. They just had kind of a big shared house, so when Jesus says here you go to your private room, Jesus must mean, it's
private prayer in your heart. Now that could be right that might be the right interpretation because it's certainly true that people did not have their own bedrooms, so they couldn't really go to. Bedroom and closed the door. However, it does seem that many houses had what was kind of like a prayer closet. It was a storage room that could be used as a prayer closet that could actually close the door. So, many Jewish houses, had essentially a prayer closet.
So, perhaps, Jesus. Here means when you pray go to your private room, he literally means say your prayers in your prayer, Closet, in a private room, it could mean, and certainly an extension of this would be pray in your heart and certainly both of those. Feel the criteria of not doing it in public and Jesus says, when you have shut your door. So the key thing is so when no one can see you doing it, pray to your father, who is in secret.
So Jesus says when you pray it can't be for attracting attention. He's not saying, don't pray in public ever because certainly there's you know, prayer meetings and things where that's needed, but he's saying that your general posture of prayer should not be to attract attention. Pray to your father who is in secret. So when you're praying, For the purposes of drawing closer to the father, rather than for
attention. So the whole point of this section Jesus is making sure that when Christians do these Pious practices, they have to have the right motivation for it. If they do they'll develop righteousness true righteousness. But if they don't, they'll become less righteous. That's the basic teaching here. So there was this mentality of the time that just because you do certain actions, it makes you
more righteous. Will Jesus says actually know your motive is what counts that is what's To determine whether you have true righteousness or not. Pray to your father, who is in secret and your father who sees all that is done, in secret will reward you. So that's the end of verse 6. Now, our reading today skips verse 7 to 15, which is the Our Father prayer. And of course, the Our Father prayer is an extension of what Jesus has just been saying about prayer.
So if you want to hear the, Our Father prayer that is read on Tuesday, a week 1 of Lent and also Thursday of Of week, 11 in ordinary time. So you can hear both of those if you look through the podcast archive. So, choose day of week, 1 of Lent and Thursday of week, 11 in ordinary time, it's worth studying the Our Father in depth. So, we now skipped a verse 16 today, which is just after the, Our Father and Jesus is now
going to address fasting. When you fast notice that, that phrase when you fast, so that implies that Jesus followers are expected to fast. It's not if you fast, it's when you fast, we sometimes forget this. Jesus expects, Christians, too fast. It's not just part of the old Covenant, do not put on a gloomy. Look as the Hypocrites do or more, literally do not look dismal as the Hypocrites. They pull long faces to let men though. Know, they are fasting. What it says there literally is.
They Disfigure, their faces to let me know. They are fasting. So it looks like in this time, the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders who were being Hypocrites, when they fasted, which was actually quite often. That was probably weekly or maybe more than that, they would do things to their face. They will put ashes on their face. They would maybe make themselves look on untidy. So that other people could look at them and other people would realize this person is fasting.
So again, they're fasting in order to attract attention, they're making it very obvious to everyone else that they're fasting. So Jesus says, I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. Pretty strong words there from Jesus. He says that those who do fasting with a motive to attract attention has an they have no merit before God, they're only reward is what is the attention they get from other people in
their lifetime? Jesus says verse 17, when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face. So Jesus says, when you're fasting, stay clean and presentable so that no one is going to suspect that you're fast. Acting. It shouldn't be obvious to other people when you're fasting. It's something you're doing as part of your personal prayer Devotion to draw closer to God, and it should not be particularly obvious. And it certainly shouldn't be to attract the attention of other people.
Put oil on your head and wash your face so that no one will know you are fasting except your father who sees all that is done in secret and your father, who sees all that is done, in secret will reward you. So Jesus point is that, for all of these good actions, you need to ensure that you do it out of the right motives which means that as far as possible, God needs to be the only one knowing you are doing them.
It's a challenge, but it's that's what Jesus wants for Christians. When you're doing good action, As far as possible you want to make it so that only go only God knows what you're doing. And in that way, you can build up Merit and righteousness of yourself.
So, Jesus has more to say in this speech we've done up to verse 18. If you want to hear the next section, verse 19 to 23, which is when Jesus says, do not store up Treasures for yourselves on Earth, rather store them up in heaven, you can hear that on Friday of week, 11 in ordinary
time. Now, if we turn to the catechism, which is a summary of Catholic teaching, there's all sorts of places where the Sermon on the Mount and particularly these words get reference, so I'll read out a few of them. There's quite a lot paragraph, 14 30 is about interior pennants, Jesus call to conversion and Penance like that of the prophets before him does not aim. First at out, Woodworks sack cloth and Ashes, fasting and
mortification. But at the conversion of the heart into Interior conversion without this, such penances, remain sterile and false. However, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs gestures and works of penance. So, pretty strong Catholic teaching there, which is that visible signs gestures. And pendants are important, when they're done with the right motive, they can bring about interior conversion with the right motives, but it's not just about performing the external
actions for their own sake. Jesus, does not I'm at outward works for their own sakes rather he wants out interior conversion and of course as this passage teaches us it's the motivation that's going to determine whether that happens or not paragraph. 1969 is about the new law, the new law practices, the acts of religion arms, giving prayer and fasting directing them to the father who sees in secret, in contrast with the desire to be seen by men. It's prayer is the Our father.
So that's a very good summary of what we've been saying. Saying here paragraph 1753 is about the sources of morality. This is a really interesting section about the way that moral actions are determined a good intention. For example, that of helping one's neighbor does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered such as lying or
calumny, good. Or just the end does not justify the means, thus the condemnation of an innocent person cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation. On the other hand and added bad intentions such as vainglory makes an act evil that in. And of itself, can be good such as arms giving. So, here, the catechism talks about Matthew chapter 6, as an example, of how motivation can determine whether an action is overall good or bad.
So that's in a really interesting section of the catechism, all include, all of these in the episode description, if you want to look at them paragraph, 2447 is about love for the poor. The Works of Mercy are charitable. Double actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily Necessities, instructing advising consoling comforting, A Spiritual Works of Mercy as are forgiving and bearing wrongs
patiently. The Corporal Works of Mercy, consists of specially of feeding the hungry, Sheltering the homeless clothing, the naked, visiting the sick, and imprisoned and burying the dead among all these giving arms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to Fraternal charity. It is Also a work of Justice pleasing to God. So there we see the Catholic teaching echoing Matthew 6, that giving arms to the poor is an important witness to the faith.
Paragraph 1693 is about life in Christ Christ. Jesus always did what was pleasing to the father and always lived in perfect. Communion with him, likewise, Jesus disciples are invited to live in the side of the father who sees in secret in order to become perfect. As your heavenly father is perfect.
So, here's the Catholic teaching that if you're a Christian, you should be trying to live to please the father because the father sees all that you do as Jesus says here paragraph 26. 08 is about Jesus teaching us how to pray from The Sermon on the Mount on words. Jesus insists on conversion of heart reconciliation, with one's brother. Before presenting, an offering on the altar love of enemies and prayer for persecutors prayer to the father in secret.
Not heaping up, empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the heart, purity of heart and seeking the kingdom before all else, this filial conversion is entirely directed to the father. So this catechism reference tells us that a whole lot of The Sermon on the Mount. Reminds us about the way we should pray as Christians paragraph 269 want, we'll make this the last last one. This is in the section about where are the places that are
favorable for prayer? And the catechism says, for personal prayer, this can be a prayer corner with the Sacred Scriptures and icons in order to be there in Secrets before our father So the verse he would Jesus says go to your private room and close your door and pray in secret.
The catechism extends that and says it's actually a good idea to have a private place in your house where you can pray Like a Prayer Corner. The catechism actually talks about trying to set up a prayer Corner in your house so I'll include all those paragraphs in the episode description. I hope you've learned something new today.
I believe that when you dive into The Sermon on the Mount and go through it, verse by verse as we are, it'll really open up what Jesus Has meant in his original context and what he wants for Christians today. So, if you've learned something new, please tell other people about this ministry. Share this podcast with them so that the ministry can continue to grow and will continue looking at the gospels in the coming days.