Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Ash Wednesday presents us with a great paradoxical moment, one when we publicly mark ourselves with ashes even as we hear an admonition from Jesus to pray in secret and not visibly like the hypocrites.
Over the years, even before I was ordained, I often heard folks ask, “How are we supposed to do that? Should we not be marked with ashes?” As it turns out, the answers to those questions relate not to what we do, but rather how we do it, and our understanding of all of this is centered on three words: like the hypocrites. Early in this passage we’re told to avoid showing our piety “to be seen by them.” The Greek word for that phrase is theathenai, which also happens to be the root for the word theater. It also literally means “to be watched by them.”
Theater and performance were major cultural influences in Jesus’ time, and they certainly were a major influence in his home country. Early in the first century CE a large theater with seating for about 2,500 was built in the town of Sepphoris, roughly four miles north of Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth. It’s impossible to know if at some point in their lives Jesus or the disciples attended a performance there, but that’s not nearly as important as knowing that such productions were there. Even more they were familiar with play-actors at work there, sometimes seeing them speaking loudly in the streets, trying to drum up business for the theater. It’s those play-actors – the hypocrites – Jesus mocks in these verses.
Here, Jesus is drawing a comparison between those who pray from a place of showmanship and those who pray from a place of humility. The hypocrites being called out are those who pray “to be watched by them.” They’re essentially praying for applause and praise for what they’re doing and are more concerned about the sound than the meaning. Jesus is offering a condemnation of “private prayers conducted in public view for the purpose of seeking human approval.”[1] He’s giving a warning that “prayers can run into the danger zone when they seem more directed to the listeners than to God.”[2]
So in these verses we see that Christ wants something else for us: a shift of prayer away from being something done for the public to instead make it something offered for God. Again, it’s also something to be offered from a place of humility. Ash Wednesday is a humbling day on the church calendar. The symbol with which we will mark our foreheads is a vivid and poignant reminder that in the beginning God shaped us from the very dust of creation – and that one day, our physical bodies will return to that dust. It’s a reminder of the finite nature of life in this world, of the brevity of our existence. And it’s a very appropriate entry into a season during which we spend 40 days reflecting on that fragility and finiteness … the brevity of human life.
We of course know Ash Wednesday, while pointing to an end, is not the end. That end – and an even greater new beginning – arrive in a few weeks. For now, though, I invite you to linger in this time. I invite you to remember our origins in creation. I invite you to reflect on the infinite majesty and power of God even as we look at the limitations of our own lives. Above all I invite you to continue praying … praying for solace, not for show; praying for comfort, not for praise; praying not for others but for God; and above all, praying with humility.
Amen.
[1] Karen J. Sapio, “Matthew 6:1-6 – Exegetical Perspective.” Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, Volume 1, p. 334 (Kindle edition).
[2] Steven P. Eason, “Matthew 6:1-6 – Homiletical Perspective.” Feasting on the Gospels: Matthew, Volume 1, p. 339 (Kindle edition).