Sermon on the Mount – Teaching about Almsgiving

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Alms, Christianity, Gospel, Gospel of Matthew, Jesus, Matthew, Pharisees, religion, Sermon on the mount, spirituality, synoptic gospels, Teaching about Almsgiving, tvaraj

Wednesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time. The reading is from Gospel of Matthew 6:1-4.

Jesus continues “The Sermon on the Mount” with a warning against doing good in order to be seen and gives three examples, almsgiving (Matthew 6:2-4), prayer (Matthew 6:5–15), and fasting (Matthew 6:16–18). In each, the conduct of the hypocrites is contrasted with that demanded of the disciples.

Teaching about Alms-giving – Mathew 6: 1-4

[But] take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

The sayings about reward found in today’s reading, and below, show that this is a genuine element of Christian moral exhortation.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.h Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:12)

For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? (Matthew 5:46)

Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:41-42)

Possibly to underline the difference between the Christian idea of reward and that of the hypocrites, the evangelist uses two different Greek verbs to express the rewarding of the disciples and that of the hypocrites; in the latter case it is the verb apechō, a commercial term for giving a receipt for what has been paid in full.

When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:2)

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:5)

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:16)

The Matthew uses the term ‘hypocrites” to castigate the scribes and Pharisees. In Chapter 23 in the Gospel Matthew we read:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. (Matthew 23:13)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. [But] these you should have done, without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. (Matthew 23:25)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. (Matthew 23:27)

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, (Matthew 23:29)

The designation ‘hypocrites”reflects an attitude resulting not only from the controversies at the time of Jesus’ ministry but from the opposition between Pharisaic Judaism and the church of Matthew. They have received their reward: they desire praise and have received what they were looking for.