“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4.
I could go in a number of directions with the Sermon on the Mount. We probably disregard and misinterpret a number of Jesus’ commands, but this one stands out to me. We love to let other people know when we have given. I recently attended a dedication of a building on a college campus. It was an excellent ceremony overall. The building was well-constructed and will serve its purpose well. This building, like many others on its campus, carries the name of the wealthy family who donated a large portion of the building costs. A member of the family was even invited to address the crowd. This has become normal in many settings. In the Middle East, in Orthodox churches, I remember seeing icons with a small plate below them with the name of the family who donated money for its purchase. Afterwards, in talking with a friend, he remarked on the number of impressive buildings that had been built there in recent years. I replied, “It’s too bad some of that money can’t go to actually making tuition affordable.” He quickly responded, “You can’t put your name on that.” This is not an extreme example; it’s something very ordinary. Naming things after donors has become a highly effective fundraising technique, outside and inside Christian circles.
New – The president of this college just announced a large fund-raising drive to assist in lowering tuition there, even hopefully to the point of no cost. Maybe he read my little blog?
It’s human nature to want credit for a good deed, and have people think well of us. We men are especially susceptible to this. We do the dishes or change a diaper and expect our wives to throw a parade in our honor. Other times we give, looking for a favor in return. Jesus spoke to this attitude in Luke 14:
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Our consumerist mindset has us caught in the idea that every financial transaction or unpaid work must give us some kind of measurable return. That way we can put a value on it and discern whether or not it was worth the cost, as if we are looking at items for sale at Wal-Mart. Jesus calls us to be radically different. He calls us to keep our giving between us and God. True humility is ready to give sacrificially without anyone knowing. True humility trusts God to reward our good deeds in whatever way He deems fit. True humility, even when it’s known, will probably be misunderstood by most of the Christians around us. But that’s a topic for another day.
Another important thought to consider is how the recipients feel about certain types of generosity. This thought really hit me while reading the following story:
Jamar, one of the pastors at … OFBC, an inner-city church, described what happened when he was contacted by Alan, a leader from … GCC, a church from a nearby suburb. Alan called Jamar to see if OFBC would be interested in being the recipient of GCC’s Gifts of Grace program at Christmas. Alan explained that each year the men and their sons purchase gifts for underresourced kids and hand deliver them to kids living in the inner city. GCC works with a different church every year, and this year, they wanted to work with OFBC. Jamar told Alan, “Thanks for thinking of us. The way this might be most helpful is if your men buy the gifts, then we’ll open up a temporary store at the church for a couple weeks. We’ll let the fathers in the community know it’s here. And we’ll offer the gifts you purchased at really reduced prices. But we’ll still charge them something. That way the dad can enjoy the dignity and joy of picking out gifts and handing them to their kids themselves.” Alan responded, “Oh, I don’t think we’re interested in that. Every year the highlight of this program has been watching the look on our kids’ faces as they hand that gift to a kid who otherwise wouldn’t receive one. This is such a great bonding experience for our fathers and sons.” In recounting this experience, Jamar said to me, “I really wasn’t interested in exploiting the men in our community so the guys over at GCC could have a nice bonding experience with their kids. All I need is one more message to the kids in our community that says, Guess what? This six-year-old white kid got you a better gift than your schmuck of a father did. I even told Alan they could come run the store for us. But it was a deal breaker for them.” [1]
When we give, are we giving to benefit the recipient, or to benefit ourselves? Good intentions are not always the best way to help people. I love how this video demonstrates how simplistic emotional appeals to help people in different circumstances than us can be somewhat ridiculous.
See Adam4d (the Babylon Bee guy) here for the “American popular version” of what Jesus says in this passage.
Comments?
[1] David A. Livermore, Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2009), 221-22.
HIS WORDS, HIS WORKS, HIS WAYS 
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