Scripture Daily

Context No. 1059 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 6:14-18: in context

14“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you don’t forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 16“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

In the Sermon on the Mount, right after the Lord's Prayer, Jesus underlines one petition: if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you. Then he turns to fasting. When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, who disfigure their faces to be seen fasting; they have their reward. Instead, wash your face and put oil on your head, so that your fasting is seen not by others but by your Father who sees in secret, and he will reward you.

Two things Jesus links to the Father who sees in secret. First, the sober word on forgiveness: our being forgiven is bound up with our forgiving. This is not that we earn God's mercy by our mercy, but that a heart truly grasped by God's forgiveness cannot keep clutching grudges; refusing to forgive reveals that we have not really received the forgiveness we claim. An unforgiving Christian is a contradiction, holding onto a debt against another while pleading that our own vast debt be released. Second, fasting done for the audience of God alone. The hypocrites disfigure their faces so people will notice and admire their piety, and Jesus says flatly, they have their reward, the human applause they wanted, and nothing more. He tells his followers to hide their fasting, to look ordinary, so that the only one who knows is the Father who sees in secret. Both teachings press toward the same thing: a faith lived before the eyes of God rather than the eyes of people, forgiving because we are forgiven, and seeking God's notice rather than the crowd's.

Am I holding a grudge while pleading for my own forgiveness, and is my devotion aimed at the Father who sees in secret, or quietly performed for people to notice?

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