My First Bible #15: Matthew 6:16-18

“When you fast, do not look sombre as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  (Matthew 6:16-18, NIV)

Like the previous passage I looked at, Jesus is continuing on a particular theme.  Last time it was prayer, today it's fasting, but in both, Jesus' key point is this: it's not a performance for the approval of others.  On reading around this passage I learn that the Greek word 'hypocrite' is a more literal allusion to 'play actors'.  Like an actor puts on make-up and a costume, so these 'actors' put on a 'fasting face'.  And Jesus makes it clear what their motivations are: 'so everyone will see that they are fasting'. 

One doesn't even need a knowledge of 1st century religious practices to get something of the picture Jesus is painting here - it's possible to imagine from his words.  Visible suffering as a badge of honour is something that can turn up in all sorts of places.   And fasting was, like prayer, an acknowledged and common religious practice - the associations are positive.  So, make it clear that you are fasting - and you're doing a really, really big fast that's making you really weak and hungry, and it's clear that everyone will think you're super-holy.

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However, like Jesus' teaching on fasting, today's passage is yet another that has caused knee-jerk reactions against certain things and can get confusing if you start thinking about it in particular ways.  Considering them both, I think we need some further clarification on 'performance'.  So, here's a slight 'aside', because I think it's important to acknowledge the fact that we are not always divided into 'inside' that is our 'true selves' and 'outside' that is a 'mask'.  Otherwise its easy to get very tied up in knots about whether you're really being 'sincere' or not!  The 'outside' is also a part of who we are.

I'm neurodivergent, and so I often spend time doing what is commonly called 'masking'.  Now sometimes it's helpful to think about masking, but sometimes the concept lacks nuance.  Yes, when I restrain myself from talking at every available second, I am toning down an element of myself.  And yes - it's tiring.   But on certain occasions it's good and necessary thing.  (And the part of my brain that makes me love to talk is also making me into a good preacher, or good at answering questions, so it's not like I always have to 'supress' who I really am.)  But more importantly, the decision to deliberately moderate certain habits in certain situations because I desire to value other people, to listen to their opinions, even though my mouth just wants to talk, is just as much part of who I am.  And let's face it, none of us (neurodivergent or not) show our 'whole self' on any occasion - it wouldn't be appropriate!  We bring the best aspect of our selves for the situation.

And sometimes, I feel like the whole of me is whatever social script I'm following.  I 'perform' because I don't know how else to interact with people.  And yet, that performance is my act of service.  And in fact, Jesus is asking people to 'mask' or 'perform' just as much as the 'hypocrites' - the difference being that hypocrites exaggerate their fasting, whereas Jesus calls his disciples to act as it they are not fasting.  If that's not 'putting on a face', I don't know what is.  Of course, the difference is clear - the hypocrites' acting is gaining them the approval of others, whereas that of the faithful disciple is to humbly downplay those things which will gain them approval.  The 'face' we decide to put to the world is a decision we make, and that decision can be motivated by good as well as bad.  It's not the putting on a face that's the issue, but the motivation behind it.

Finally, sometimes the 'outside', or what would more accurately be termed our 'bodies and movements', is interconnected with our brains and feelings, and often not only can be of service to others, but can aid us in and be part of our worship.  It has often been thought that your heart comes first and your body follows - you feel the desire to kneel in reverence before God, and so you do so.  Your heart bubbles up with joy, and therefore you sing.  Anything else is seen as 'insincere'.   And yet, what actually happens, is that sometimes our bodies help nudge our hearts into the right place.  When I pray, I find it helpful to write down my prayers - as if I'm writing to God!  But it's not because God needs to see my prayers sufficiently articulated in written form, but for my own benefit.  The physical action of my body (one could even call it a 'performance'), helps my brain and heart to get into the space of praying.  Others kneel to pray, or stand and raise their hands, or sing.

In Psalm 103:1, the writer speaks to his own soul: 'Praise the Lord, my soul!'  It's the original of 'pray until you're praying' or 'worship until you're worshipping', and it's as if the psalmist is grabbing hold of his own soul by the shoulders and urging his very being to worship.  It's what sometimes springs to my mind as I approach my prayer time or a time of corporate worship.  Just because I'm 'not feeling it', it doesn't make God any less worthy of my praise.  But when I hear words of songs that tell of all God has done and join in, I remember, and then despite how I'm feeling, I do mean it.  And when I don't trust God, and yet I pray with the words of one who does trust him, who does give him the whole of my life, and as I say those words, and my mouth is training my heart to slowly change into that person who does trust him.

Or to take us to the topic of this passage - why fast?  Yes - sometimes it might be an expression of lament we're already feeling.  But at other times, it is the act of fasting which comes first, which then helps us to align our hearts - whether that's reflecting on what it is like to long for God's kingdom, to quieten our hearts, slow down and take time to pray, or to feel at empathy with those who have no choice but to be hungry.

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So, where are we left with this passage, and indeed the previous one I wrote about?  It is this - fasting is not a performance for other people's approval.  That's all there is to it - no need to make it more complicated than that!  No need to get tied in knots worrying about whether your feelings inside match up to what your body is doing.  When we fast, or when we pray, or when we give to the needy, are we doing it as a show for others, to impress them, or in order to glorify God and draw closer to him?

(Incidentally, these particular examples are clearly in a situation where it seen as impressive, and where approval from others is gained, through fasting, prayer and almsgiving.  But of course, we may find ourselves in situations where gaining the approval of others tempts us to behave in opposite ways.  Daniel wasn't praying 'for show' when he steadfastly carried on his custom after the prohibition of Nebuchadnezzar, but he could have decided to put on a different show that made him look less like a believer of God.  As could Shadrach, Meshak and Abednego when they chose not to bow to the King.  In this case, the 'hypocrite' mask they shunned was not that of Jewish piety).

Intellectually and philosophically, therefore, we have revealed this command to be 'simpler' than overthinking minds may make it.  However, this doesn't mean that letting go of the quest for the approval of others - whatever that looks like in the circles in which you operate - is easy!  

There's a well-known experiment where young children are left alone with a marshmallow.   Before leaving them alone with this fluffy and gooey sweet temptation, the adult tells them this:  "I'm going away for a bit.  Here's one marshmallow.  You can either eat this one now, or, if you wait until I get back, you can have two marshmallows."  Now here's the thing: the children all have the intellectual capacity to understand that if they wait, they get more marshmallows, and they would all also, probably, far rather have two marshmallows than one.  However, once the adult has left the room, many of the children simply do not have the strength of mind to not eat the marshmallow!  Some of them try really hard - they really want the second marshmallow, but they just can't manage it!

You may wonder what this has all got to do with performing for others?  The marshmallow test is not about performing, but about temptation, and instant gratification versus long-term reward.  And today's passage, and the one before, are also about this.

Like the children in the marshmallow test, we have two mutually incompatible options.  We can either do things for people's approval or for God's.  God's reward is not 'brownie points' in heaven, but that of fellowship with God that comes from aligning our hearts to his heart - it's not a reward for worship, but worship itself is the reward.  That's why it's incompatible with our worship being driven by the approval of others - for the latter is not real worship at all.   Therefore, gaining approval from others by deliberately showing off our 'works of righteous' means that, like the children who eat the first marshmallow, we have 'already received our reward in full'.   If we choose the first it is fleeting.  People's approval does not last long.   And yet, like the children in the marshmallow experiment, falling into the temptation for instant gratification is so easy!  It's not a case that we don't understand - but we fall into temptation because the approval from other people is just so much more instantly gratifying!

We must flee from temptation - the temptation to exchange the amazing reward of fellowship with God for the fleeting approval of others.  And we must do all we can to flee that temptation.  The reward that is worship and fellowship with God, that deeper relationship that is aligning our hearts with his, is worth the sacrifice.

The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time.  I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months.  Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith.  I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse.  So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them.  They are from the Good News Bible.