This year I am exploring what it would be like if we observed Lent according to what Jesus said.
Jesus was very concerned about appropriate behavior for people of faith.
And he spells a lot of this out in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
The very first thing Jesus addresses in the first verse of Matthew’s chapter 6 is to “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public - so that people will see what you do.”
Today is the second Sunday of Lent.
Lent is a fascinating time in the church year that Presbyterians are only beginning to appreciate.
Used to be, as you know, we never observed Lent in Presbyterian churches.
But, today we see this time as an opportunity to attend to the parts of our lives that we often neglect.
During this time before Easter we are challenged to open ourselves in new ways to the Spirit’s transforming power – not unlike Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.
From the very earliest times, Christians took time out before Easter to reflect on their faith, cultivate it, and prepare for a most joyous celebration of Easter.
Remembering that Jesus took 40 days off to prepare for the beginning of his ministry, the church sets aside these 40 days prior to Easter for us to get ready.
This is a unique season.
This is a season that truly belongs to the church.
The rest of the world couldn’t care less about Lent.
Never has.
Probably never will.
Think of the last great Lenten movie you saw.
To be sure, the world observes the day before Lent.
Some know this as Paczki Day.
That's "Gobble Down the Jelly Donuts" day.
That's "Pig Out on Pancakes" day.
And in New Orleans, that's "Bring Mardi Gras to a Drunken Conclusion" day.
But one wonders how many people there were the next morning who understood why they stuffed their stomachs or soaked their livers the day before .
I have been concerned for some time that we in the church are somewhat off track with our Lenten emphases each year.
So I decided to do something a little different this year.
This year I am exploring what it would be like if we observed Lent according to what Jesus said.
So, I am calling the series: Observing Lent the Lord’s Way.
The first Sunday, we observed how Jesus took that time off.
He took time to take a time out - for 40 days.
It obviously was of great benefit to him as he was about to start his earthly ministry.
And, the promise is that it could be of great benefit to us, as well, if we were to take the time to take a time out each day for this time before Easter.
And, today I am reminded us that Jesus left some pretty specific instructions about how we should observe Lent.
Oh, to be sure, Jesus never observed Lent, and Jesus wouldn’t understand what Lent has become,
but, Jesus was very concerned about appropriate behavior for people of faith.
And he spells a lot of this out in the sixth chapter of Matthew.
The very first thing Jesus addresses in the first verse of Matthew’s chapter 6 is to “Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public - so that people will see what you do.”
It is very clear here:
no Tebowing,
no kneeling after a touchdown or other big play,
no pointing to the heavens when you may have done something extraordinary.
Jesus goes even further, and says that God is just not interested in these public displays of faith.
No, when we practice our faith,
we do faith actions,
we should do so no one will know what we are doing.
In fact, “wash your face and comb your hair” – let no one have any inkling of what you may be doing in private.
I am reminded of the old story of the man who walked into the little Mom and Pop grocery store and said, "Do you sell salt?"
The man said, "Do we sell salt! Just look!"
The man showed the customer an entire wall of shelves stocked with nothing but salt-Morton salt, iodized salt, kosher salt, sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, seasoning salt, Epsom salts – every kind of salt imaginable.
The customer was amazed.
"You think that's something. Come over here."
He led the customer to a back room filled with shelves and bins and cartons and barrels and boxes of salt.
The customer said, "This is unreal!"
The man said, "You haven't seen anything yet."
He led the customer down some steps into a huge basement, five times as large as the previous room. It was filled wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with every imaginable form, size, and shape of salt you could imagine.
The man looked at him and said, "You really do sell salt!"
The store owner said, "No, we don't, that's just the problem! We never sell salt.
But that salt salesman that comes by every week, boy does he sell salt!"
It seems that we often miss the point – even when it is spelled out for us in an obvious way.
Remember to wash your face and comb your hair, Jesus said.
There is a story that Robert Redford was walking through a hotel lobby one day and a woman saw him and followed him into the elevator.
She was so excited she said, "Excuse me. Are you the real Robert Redford?"
Without even a smile, he looked at her and said, "Only when I am alone."
This is what Jesus was getting at: The real you is what you are and what you do when nobody sees and nobody knows, but God.
When you go out in pubic be sure to wash your face and comb your hair.
It may interest you to know that the word Jesus uses for hypocrite, is the same Greek word that means actor and/or, literally, mask-wearer.
One of the major forms of entertainment, back in the days of Jesus and Greek culture,
was the theater.
Greek and Roman actors would wear large masks and costumes designed to increase the size of their appearance.
They would wear platform shoes to make themselves look taller.
In other words, they did everything they could to make themselves appear to be something that they really were not.
They would wear different masks to portray different emotions or different scenes or different parts of the act and that is why they were called "hypocrites." Sometimes, they would wear one type of mask and sometimes they would wear another.
For the same reason that modern actors today put on heavy makeup and perhaps wear specially designed costumes or will pad their clothes to make them look bigger or stronger;
they project an image that appears to be real, but it really is false.
The word hypocrite soon took on the connotation of someone who treats the world as a stage on which he is just playing a part.
He tries to make himself appear to be something that he really is not;
his actions really don't match his words.
There is the person who can quote his Bible from one end to the other, but he never lives it.
There is the person who sits in a small group on Sunday morning pretending to be pious and religious, but regularly “overlooks” items on his tax return each year.
It is the person who comes to church, never misses and gets all the blessings of the church, but never financially supports the church and helps the church to continue its mission of reaching people for Christ.
Jesus was talking about people who play a game of religious make-believe.
They know all the cues.
They know what to say,
what to do, when to say it and when to do it,
but privately they have no heart for the things of God at all.
You may remember a movie that came out about a few years ago called, "Catch Me If You Can."
The film was based on a true story.
It is the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., who lived a wide and crazy life as a doctor, airline pilot, banker, investor, attorney and celebrity.
The irony behind his story was he wasn't any of these in reality.
He intentionally was a fake and a fraud and a pretender.
He realized early in his life that he had the uncanny gift to convince people that he was "somebody" just through the way he came across with confidence and acting ability.
He turned life into a game and made a living at it and soon found himself addicted to role playing. Before it was over, he had helped to perform surgery in an operating room,
conned banks out of thousands of dollars,
flew an airplane as a pilot
and gone places and met people most of us could only dream about.
The only problem was it was all a show;
it was all a sham.
The FBI finally caught him and he ended up spending years in the federal prison.
He had so much talent, but he wasted it pretending to be something he was not.
Call it whatever you what to –
putting up a front,
wearing a mask,
playing pretend,
putting on a show,
but the Bible says it is hypocrisy.
What God wants you to do is just simply be who you are.
Someone has well said, "Be who you is, because if you is who you ain't, you ain't who you is."
Be sure to wash your face and comb your hair.
Make certain you do not perform your religious duties in public for all to see . . .
Again, Jesus clues in to “performing”. The word he uses is the Greek word which literally gives us the word "theater."
It means literally, "something to be stared at."
In other words, Jesus said, "You don't have to put on a show for anybody.
You don't have to put on a Broadway performance." The Pharisees were just like Dion Sanders.
When it came time to give
or it came time to pray
or it came time to fast, it was "prime-time".
They had a "strut your stuff" spiritually.
Jesus said about the Pharisees in John 12:43, "For they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God." (John 12:43, NASB)
Whenever you try to use your religion to cause other people to notice you
or to brag on you
and to give you praise and honor and glory,
when that becomes your motive, so that, as Jesus said in verse 2, "They may be honored by men."(Matthew 6:2, NASB)
Then listen to what He goes on to say, "Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." (Matthew 6:2, NASB)
The word "reward" is a technical expression that was used at the completion of a commercial transaction where a receipt would be given showing "paid in full."
Jesus was saying that those who trumpet and parade their good works so they can get the applause and glory of men receive their reward the moment the clapping begins and the moment the clapping ends their reward is over.
They get exactly what they are looking for, no less, but no more.
It is so easy to fake Christianity.
It is so easy to spit polish your image on the outside, but if it doesn't correspond to spiritual integrity on the inside, then to God it means nothing.
As you do your Lenten activities, remember to wash your face and comb your hair.
Jesus doesn’t want us to make a show of our faith. Jesus wants us to be authentic in our commitment to him.
I think that’s what Lent is all about.
It’s about dropping the pretense.
It’s about living the Christ life to the best of our ability
and not worrying about what the rest of the world thinks.
Even though we are in this treasured fellowship,
in a sense it’s just us and God.
We are humbling ourselves in the presence of complete holiness and praying with the Psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
In this time before Easter,
remember what Jesus said and did,
take time to take a time out;
practice your faith in private;
and keep your face washed and hair combed
so no one will be the wiser . . .
Amen.
The congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, heard this sermon during a corporate worship service the Second Sunday of Lent, March 3, 2013.
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