Reflection on Mt 6:3
“When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”
These words, which our Lord Jesus tells us, are not intended for discussion but rather for practice, and they have a deep meaning. They involve a double sacrifice: partly you renounce something of your own on behalf of others and partly, if you do it in secret, you renounce human praise. Jesus explains that the purpose is “that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly”. He will give you a divine, eternal reward rather than a human one. It holds true that we lose to gain. We lose the material to gain the immaterial. We offer the temporary to gain the eternal. Remember: Your Father sees what you do in secret, and Jesus reminds you: “He will reward you!”
Jesus explains further: “When you do a charitable deed, do not attract attention to yourself like the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets to gain the praise of men. Amen, amen, I say to you, they have their reward.” So there is a danger that we will attract attention to our self and seek admiration for our goodness. Doing good in secrecy is connected with the faith that the Father sees it, and we do it for His sake. Jesus emphasizes that we should not only do charitable deeds in secret but also acts of righteousness. He says: “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds (acts of righteousness) before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Jesus gives this advice after telling us not to take an eye-for-an-eye revenge. He even says that whoever slaps us on our right cheek, we should turn the other to him also. He also showed us that we should love our enemies and those who curse or persecute us. Now He says the next words which we should implement wisely in our life programme of the following of Jesus. He Himself will then work secret miracles through us, and later on even manifest ones. Still, the greatest miracle is to convert at least a single soul and thus to save it for heaven. Each of us should be a patient fisher of souls – a missionary! Mission starts with prayer and putting into practice the commandments of Jesus in little things. It has nothing to do with manoeuvring psychological methods used to deceive people to their both temporary and eternal detriment.
Jesus said: “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” (Jn 14:21) Someone will say: I know the Decalogue but what are Christ’s commandments? Christ’s commandments clarify the nature of the Decalogue and point out the very root. If we keep Christ’s commandments, Jesus gives us His Spirit that we may have the strength to fight the spirit of pharisaism in us, the spirit of the Pharisees and scribes. The Pharisees and scribes outwardly observed the Decalogue and human precepts, but their heart was far from God.
Concerning deeds in secret, even children can learn to practise it in little things, they only need to be explained the meaning of it. Of course, adult Christians can always practise it too. Thus, we love Jesus if we keep His commandments! His commandments are Spirit and life. It is not mere letter of the law or outwardness. They make us launch out into the deep!
Download: Reflection on Mt 6:3
