Ash Wednesday 2013
Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 6:1-6; Matthew 6:16-21
Here Isaiah was prophesying to the Israelites after the return from exile. God wasn’t complaining that the Israelites didn’t fast, they most certainly did. No – they fasted, but their lives left much to be desired: Isaiah was describing an empty religiosity – religion for its own sake, or rather as a benefit for those who practised it.
They sought to manipulate God for their own ends – their religion was selfish and oppressive, rather than being a blessing (as God had promised Abraham).
And in Matthew, Jesus describes those who pray and fast ostentatiously, to impress their fellow-men. That impression is their whole reward – Christ says so – they have received their reward in full! Jesus describes them as hypocrites – literally “under judgement”, but a word used of play-actors in NT Greek. This is a performance!
Jesus urges his followers to ensure their motives are right – give to the needy, pray, fast by all means; but don’t do it to impress others – do it privately and quietly. Don’t try to build up what you have here – your treasure on earth – which in this case is your reputation among men. Do these things for God – to build up your treasure in heaven.
In both cases, people were doing “religion” as opposed to building a relationship with God and with each other.
I’m going to consider relationship from two angles – first considering prayer as the central element of our relationship with God, then thinking about how we maintain human relationships.
Jesus and Prayer
On Monday night, at the Following Jesus course, we wondered whether Jesus’s life could be thought of as a prayer. We have examples in the Bible of enacted parables (eg Zaccheus), where the story is lived out rather than told. Now we’re thinking about an enacted prayer, one that is lived out, not merely spoken.
We could see that all the elements of prayer were live out in Jesus’s life, and we realised that what is important is that there are ACTS of love, not just words. And we can use the word ACTS as an acronym reminding us of the essential elements of prayer.
So ACTS:
A is for Adoration – saying “I love you” but not just in words – making it a life of actions, ones that please God. Jesus said that what you did for the least of these you did for me. How would you feel about somebody who treated your children badly? A teacher who picks on your daughter or the playground bully who intimidates your son? They’d find it hard to build a relationship with you. And you will find it hard to build up your relationship with God if you neglect or mistreat his children.
C is for Confession – realising that God is perfect and we are far from it – humbly baring our souls and admitting our faults, desiring to turn away from them.
T is for Thanksgiving – accepting how much we depend upon God – for our daily bread, for all good things.
S is for Supplication – asking God to help others as well as ourselves – but letting our actions speak of our desire for good things for other people.
Human Relationships
The Marriage Course includes a section about the languages of love. Only one of them is words! The others are all ACTS. Acts of service, giving gifts, spending quality time together, physical touch. They all require us to DO something.
Most of us use one or two of these languages. If we want to please someone, we need to use a language they appreciate – I know my daughter Kate needs quality time, and if I can’t give her my whole attention, she doesn’t really feel loved.
Just as we must take the trouble to find out how to make someone feel loved, so we need to know how to apply this to our relationship with God. If we pray like the hypocrites, our words are for other people – God doesn’t have our attention. We’re not expressing our love.
We can see a common thread in our readings: it is about the heart that lies behind our worship; it is about whether our words are just empty words; it is about whether our lives reflect the desires we speak of when we worship or pray.
So if we are to fast, or read, or study, or make a resolution, then it needs to be building up our relationship with God and his creation. And that includes other people!
Every relationship depends on communication. Whether it is saying “I love you” or reminiscing together about holidays, children, good times. It might be offering to help with the cooking, the dishes, the housework. But saying “I love you” and offering to help, mean nothing if we don’t live it out. Love is action, and attitude, not mere words, and it means an attitude of genuine concern, not an attempt to manipulate someone’s favour.
As we move through Lent, let’s try to make our prayers more than words, our fasting more than self-denial, our love for God and his creation a way of behaving, not a string of words, or an attempt to impress.
