Post by M.R. Hagerty on Jun 10, 2023 0:28:35 GMT -7
Matthew 6:14-23
"14 "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. 16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:14-23)
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Commentary
Matthew 6:14-15
14 "if you forgive others . . . your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not . . . then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
We must be careful here to not enter once again into a salvation earned by works or one’s performance in the sight of God. It can be inferred that this is precisely what is being recommended - forgive in order that you be forgiven of God; His forgiveness then being tied to our own acts toward others.
But Paul soundly repudiates the idea that blessings or a right standing before God are conditional on how well we do in actions and works.
We need to understand this verse in the same manner that we understand 1 John –
“The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;” 1 John 2:4. “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.” “2: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 2:15
Is it the case that the minute we cease to keep His commandments, we become a liar and devoid of the Truth? Is it true that should we come in a certain instance to hate a brother, we are deceived about living in the light and in fact must acknowledge that we live in darkness? Is it true that if we love any aspect of the world, the love of the Father ceases to be in us?
We are to understand 1 John as dealing with conditions, not instances of sin. These are life attitudes that beget the darkness and lack of love. It is teaching that if we have the attitude that keeping His commandments is optional or unnecessary we make ourselves a liar. It is the readiness to hate as a normal response to adversity that puts us in darkness rather than in the Light. It is the double-mindedness that legitimizes the ways of the world while purporting to be His followers that inhibits the love of the Father living in us, not that we happen to have a favorite movie, love to go out dancing or enjoy a Starbucks every morning.
But if our life is purposed to do the opposite of these things, yet we stumble, we should not conclude that we have been deceived all along that the truth was ever in us, because we can acknowledge our love for the truth, despite not being perfect to fulfill all righteousness.
So likewise here also. It is a life or a mode of behavior that is unforgiving, that prefers vengeance and “teaching others the wrong they’ve done us” that disqualifies us from depending on the Grace of God’s forgiveness. We will later see this in the parable of the man who’s debt was forgiven and goes out and threatens harm to his own debtors if things owed to him are not repaid.
This understanding should also settle the issue of whether this is another unpardonable sin – not forgiving others, - to be added to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. If it is understood as above, an individual instance of unforgiveness would not be in the same class as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, but a life of unforgiveness could be seen as resisting the influence and normative power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore rather close to the condition that qualifies as the blasphemy.
And in individual cases, our act of unforgiveness, while not jeopardizing our salvation, might bring consequences that express God’s attitude toward our sin and that all is not well between us and Him. It prompts us to keep short accounts with the Lord.
Matthew 6:16-20
16 "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do . . they have their reward in full. . . 17 anoint your head and wash your face . . 18 and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
Those who made a show of fasting were much like the actors on a stage, there to play a part which had little to do with their real lives. Spiritual hypocrites had no real intention of living by their faith, but wished to be seen as devout and holy men.
Now it would seem that such hypocrisy would be inwardly known and as with all charades and the effort to keep up appearances would become sheer drudgery and be eventually abandoned. That, in fact, was often the case. Hypocrites often simply gave up.
As for the others, we must keep in mind the tremendous advantage play acting in this kind of society gained for an individual. The classes in society were much more distinct. The rich were extremely so, and the poor also extremely so. There were very few in the middle. So life was a constant struggle to avoid the stain of the lower class, and this generating any number of desperate moves and machinations to gain the admiration of others.
To put on gloom or even the feigning of agony in prayer, and doing it publicly, would hopefully cause others to say, “What a saint so-and-so is. Look how he agonizes in prayer.” But Jesus recommends that we arrange our appearance as one in whom all things are well and free of trouble. We are to have our hair shining with the anointing of oil and our face fresh and washed as though we are attending a social affair in good spirits, full of energy and joy. Our personal appearance and public persona is to be such that we are not noticed. And we are further to be satisfied with being only seen in secret by God.
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, . . 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;
The acquisition of material possessions was constantly fueled by the observance everywhere of the plight of the poor. It was an effort to be as separate from them as possible and of course to eek out any enjoyment one could gain. Today we seldom see the kinds of people the truly destitute poor comprise. The homeless who beg or solicit on the medians are surprisingly removed from the destitute poor of ancient times. Many of the homeless show in their appearance that they have some access to the means of personal hygiene, laundry and medical services.
We only occasionally see those one or two who have been sleeping out in the elements, clothes caked with grim, sweat and dust, skin ravaged by time and the heat, and whose hair is something out of prehistoric times. But such persons were commonly seen in ancient times and their state all the more routinely feared. The getting of things was the sign of preferable standing in society, even if monetarily one had nothing that approached the upper classes.
It is a wonder that anyone appreciated the alternative being offered – seek treasures rather in Heaven. These were perceived as intangibles, rendering nothing of immediate value, and for many the dictates of the here and now were the only focus that mattered. It’s a bit like asking a child who is crazed with the idea of having the latest version of Nintendo to consider putting the money aside for college.
To help the transition in thinking, Jesus reminds His audience of the fate of earthly treasures. No sooner do we get them than they begin a steady path to despoilment. They must ever be cleaned and polished, and even that process serves to rub away their glory and they begin to acquire the telltale stains of having been used. And there is always the principle of obsolescence. Walk through a junk yard on the outskirts of town and see the end of what were once shiney new models in showrooms, whose appearance caught the eye and turned one’s head. Now they are faded, moth-eaten, pealing and rusted, and the dream of no one anymore.
In contrast, the things of Heaven are free from such corruptions. But more than this, they are the things that will appoint and adorn a much longer period than our lives will ever measure – eternity future. We are to “invest” in those things that will serve to furnish and dress our eternal dwelling places.
There was an anecdote that circulated a few years back about a wealthy woman and her maid, both of whom were Christians. The woman had amassed a considerable fortune that she used to ensure a life of ease and luxury for herself. Her maid was just the opposite, making many personal sacrifices with considerably less income so that others might be blessed.
The maid died and later the woman herself. When the woman was being escorted to her home in heaven, she noticed the wonderful mansions along the way, and then one of particular beauty and grandeur. The angel explained that this was the house of her maid, at which the woman imagined the veritable palace that must be awaiting her. As they continued, the houses got smaller and less stately, until they turned onto the last of several streets to a little modest home of unimposing aspect. “Here we are” said the angel.
“There must be some mistake,” said the woman. “My maid received that glorious mansion and I am to live here?” The angel replied, “Your maid spent her whole life sending us the materials of love, faith and self-sacrifice, such that we had plenty with which to build her that beautiful home. But as for you, these are all the materials you sent us.”
We must never forget that the kingdom is to be built of the souls of men and the good works done to show the love of God toward all men. These are its building blocks and they will translate into the stuff with which Christ “prepares a place for us.”
Matthew 6:21-22
21 “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It is a principle of life that our heart follows the things we come to value. It wraps itself around such things and provides the energy and time that our devotion requires. The trouble with man is that the objects of devotion can be earthly and carnal, many of which are fueled by their immediate promises of gratification. So our heart readily goes out after them.
Jesus is saying that what we value determines where our heart will be. So be very sure that what we value is long-lasting, eternal and eternally valuable. If we wrap our hearts around the temporal, it will disappoint us because it will not last and our heart will be despondent at the loss, seeking another patron on which it can spend its energy.
In life, we often find that our job is a thing we must do, but our passion often lies elsewhere. We can be so-so at work in terms of energy, interest and the willingness to spend extra time. But when it comes to our passion, no expenditure is too great. Jesus is saying, “Make the things of Heaven that passion and you will be rewarded in ways that will never disappoint because they will be eternal.”
22 "The eye is the lamp of the body . .”
This is in what is called phenomenal language – the language of appearances. It is not meant to convey that as light enters the eye there is a reflection that spreads through its inner parts. It is describing how we perceive the effect of light coming into our eyes. Our bodies are comprised of many processes, the majority of which do their work completely blind. “Seeing”, per se, is not a necessity for their operation in any sense imaginable. How they sense the presence of amino acids or hemoglobin has nothing to do with seeing.
But we as sentient creatures see. As we look out into the world beyond our skin, that world is characterized by what we take for granted and seldom think about – the presence of light everywhere that enables us to know where we are and what we are doing. Light is not necessary for us in sensing our own being, but we immediately become used to it being the key to performing all the functions in life. As such, it lights up every experience.
It naturally follows that if our eyes are not clear, if they obstruct the getting of light, we perceive our selves and our bodies as filled with gloom and murk. In the case of the blind, all is darkness and life is a matter of groping in that darkness, which we can learn to deal with, but the learning is never characterized as finally coming into the light.
Jesus then transitions the context. If the light we need for life is gone, the resulting blindness and its darkness is profoundly complete. But there is another form of light, the light of the soul, that can be perceived irrespective of the physical. And if this light is lacking and we are in that kind of darkness, how much more profound it is than physical darkness.
This is something that mankind overlooks in his busy-ness to enjoy life as long as it lasts. Man can be fully healthy in vision and sight but be in complete darkness as to his soul. Christ’s message and that of the Gospel is to rekindle the awareness of the darkness rationalized away so long ago, but which plagues every aspect of living.