The Significance of Spotlights and Shadows
““Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.””
Do you serve others to be known or to make Him known? I think the answer to that question can be seen in how you respond to how you practice righteousness in the shadows, in the private spaces of life. Similarly it is those very places which prepare how you respond to the spotlight.
Ever since we had kids my wife and I have had the joy of having our sleeping schedule shift dramatically. My wife tends to sleep early, and wake early whereas I’m the opposite. She has made a habit of getting up early, making herself coffee, and reading her bible.
One day, she decided to play some worship music on our sound bar in the background. She turned it on but nothing happened. She turned up the volume on her phone a bit but could barely hear anything. She finally decides to turn up the volume all the way up. She could just make out the words to the music but it was coming from outside. That’s when she, with horror, realized her mistake. She had connected her phone, not to our sound bar, but to our neighbors' sound bar. So at 6:00 am, she was blasting music at max volume in their house.
Have you ever had trouble connecting something only to discover you were connected to the wrong thing the whole time? The religious leaders, the pharisees, of the day taught that connection to God was through your effort. They taught that righteousness was built through almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. These were three of the biggest practices of those who claimed to be righteous. They consistently brought the spotlight to themselves.
They would announce their giving in the streets, they would often sound a trumpet before they would pray, and they would openly display their fasting for all to see. Never did they do anything righteous in the secret places, the shadows of life. They did all this to be “righteous.” Yet Jesus saw through their hearts when he said,
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” - Matthew 6:2 NIV
The Greek word for “hypocrite” is translated as “an actor who wears a mask”. About five miles north of Nazareth was a theatre built by Herod of Antipas, where they would perform shows and productions. Often the actors wore masks, made grand sweeping gestures, and would announce scene changes by sounding a trumpet.
Jesus makes the comparison clear to his listeners. Do not be like the Pharisees who only wear a mask of righteousness, which is really no righteousness at all, and who only do acts of righteousness to be seen by men in the spotlight. Instead, do good deeds in secret, in shadows, to the glory of our Father in heaven. Yet what about the good deeds in public? Should we refrain from practicing righteousness if others will know and see us in the spotlight? The key to “practicing righteousness” lies in the loving intention from within our hearts that only comes from a right relationship with God.
It is also written, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:16 NIV
So Jesus is not saying do not practice righteousness if it is public, otherwise, you would simply be hiding your light, and he is not saying do all righteousness publicly, otherwise, you may simply be in it to bring yourself glory, instead, He appears to be saying, to do good, whenever you have the opportunity. John Wesley wrote this when preaching on this passage of scripture,
“We may intend that our light should shine before men, when our conscience bears us witness in the Holy Ghost, that our ultimate end in designing they should see our good works, is, “that they may glorify our Father which is in heaven.” But take heed that ye do not the least thing with a view to your own glory: Take heed that a regard to the praise of men have no place at all in your works of mercy.” - John Wesley
So yes, actively walk in the discipline of prayer and fasting, and the disciplines of generosity and encouragement, regardless of whether you are in the spotlight or the shadows. Yet do not do these with the hope of being seen, glorified, or recognized. Instead, let others praise our Heavenly Father when we are seen. Let Him who blesses, bless you when He sees you do these things in secret. Let all the glory be to Him forever. Go and make Him known.
Bibliography
Sermons, On Several Occasions. Sermon 26, John Wesley
Bible Knowledge Background Commentary, MATTHEW–LUKE, General Editor, Author, Craig A. Evans
IVP Bible Background Commentary, New Testament, 2nd edition, Craig S. Keener
