Jesus has shown us what life in the kingdom of God looks like as it emerges from a transformed heart, finding its way into every aspect of our daily lives. He now highlights two main obstacles to life and godliness in the kingdom. Two desires which can pull us away from the life that is fully immersed in the range of God’s effective will and back into the barren righteousness of the Pharisees. These are; the desire for approval and the desire for security through material wealth. Today’s reading covers the need for approval.

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Acting in such a way that attracts attention to give us religious kudos is a real trap. Jesus highlights the way in which the pharisees would place money in the offering for the needs of the poor, but as they did it, they would quite literally pay a couple of brass players to punch out a fanfare! It’s quite humorous really, if it was’t so sad. Jesus says, these people are doing their so called acts of righteousness for the applause of humans, and God allows it. In that he lets people do such things and he lets them garner the praise they seek, that of other people. Such acts do nothing to give praise to God and do nothing to stir him to put his limitless power behind the benevolent act. The fleeting acknowledgement of a turned head in the temple court is this person’s reward. If human praise is what a person seeks, God grants their desire.

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We’re accustomed to Jesus referring to this type of thing as hypocrisy. Jesus was the first person in antiquity to use the term hypocrite for this purpose. The hypocrite was the local actor on one of the many stages existing around the region of Nazareth. Everyone knew the image to which Jesus referred. Actors played a role for show. Jesus took the well known term and 17 times referred to it as a descriptor for public shows of righteousness which did not impress God the father in heaven. If you want to read a more full denouncement of the hypocrisy of the pharisee’s just turn to Matthew chapter 23.

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Contrastingly, Jesus suggests that almsgiving, or gifts to the poor should be done in secret. So secret in fact that your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing. Now, what exactly does Jesus mean by this? Clearly, if I think to myself, “don’t notice what the other hand is doing, don’t notice what the other hand is doing, don’t notice …” well, that’s a sure fire way of noticing! Jesus is talking about the sort of kingdom hearted person who loves the way the Father loves, who does good as a natural part of their everyday life. This type of person doesn’t even notice when they give money to that cause or this cause, because it’s not really anything out of the usual.

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Becoming a co-manager of creation with Jesus with a transformed heart and a renewed mind leads a person to act in ways which are basically automated. This is not to say that the Christian journey is without its ups and downs, but normalcy of righteousness is what should be expected from life in the kingdom.

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Jesus is talking about living for an audience of one, God the Father or as we might more rightly understand, the Lord Jesus himself. Living for God’s approval is a powerful way to reframe our thinking about the importance of character over the applause of the crowd. Living for an audience of one, might be one of the most important lessons we can learn on this journey of spiritual formation.