Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:1, 16-21)
It’s an ironic day in the life of the Church.
Jesus tells us to “beware of practicing your piety before others…” and yet, it is rather difficult to practice it in private when you publicly show up in a church.
Jesus tells us to make sure that when we fast we wash our face and put oil on it so that we don’t look dismal, and yet if we went to church today, the priest/pastor will probably put a big smudge of the cross right in the middle of our forehead (and when you have a forehead the size of mine, that smudge can look kind of huge).
Jesus tells us not to store up treasures on earth, and yet many of us have more treasure than we know what to do with it. Granted this is a sour economy, and some of us are without jobs, and the bills are tight. But in the grand scheme of things, in much of the Western world, we are rich beyond our wildest dreams. I may not make much working for a non-profit, but I have worked along side people who thought they were rich making $5 dollars per day. Hard to compare.
Jesus says where your treasure is, there will be your heart. When I was reminded at the noon service that I was dust/dirt, and not even a high quality grade of dirt, my mind drifted to Jesus’ words–”where your treasure is…” Have I gotten my priorities straight concerning my treasure? is it possible to change after all these years?
I am glad that the priest didn’t leave his message at just the dirt part. He remind us that we might be dirt, but it was like the mud that God shaped into the earth creature and breathed into its nostrils the breath of life. We have been given God’s Spirit, and we are not stuck in the mud, but are made into new creations.
That’s what the season of Lent is about. We are not stuck in the mud, and God is still shaping us into the people God wants us to be. Change is not only possible, but expected.
May you have a Holy Lent.