Orienting Your Piety: Not before Men

Taken From the Kairos Journal
April 8, 2011 Edition

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them . . .” (Matthew 6:1)

We live in a world where form triumphs daily over substance and where appearance trumps reality at every turn. In a media-driven, image-conscious society, politicians strive not so much to do good, but to be seen to do good; not so much to be ethical, as to be perceived as ethical. Elections are won and lost more because of media-savvy consultants than because of worthy policies. The temptation is intense for pastors to transfer the orientation of their piety in the direction of their parishioners rather than their heavenly Father.

In Matthew 5-7, it is essential to notice that Jesus is directing His teaching primarily to His disciples (5:1), the future leaders of the worldwide church. It is therefore no accident that Jesus, in His comparisons and contrasts, focuses so much on the Pharisees, whom He had Himself labeled “teachers of Israel” (John 3:10). So in chapter 5, the Pharisee’s teaching is the foil for Jesus’ teaching, and in chapter 6, the piety of these teachers in the classic disciplines of praying, fasting, and giving is the foil for the ideal piety which Jesus recommends. He begins His critique of their piety with the observation that they practiced their righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. What motivated the Pharisee’s showy piety? Pride and self-righteousness were undoubtedly factors, but the evidence of the rest of the Gospel^[1]  invites us to consider a pedagogical motive. The Pharisee’s performance of his piety was designed to impress others and thus to invite imitation.

While it is true that the principles of the Sermon on the Mount are applicable to all disciples, at all times and in all places, the disciple who would teach other disciples - the pastor - must be especially attentive to them, just as he is especially vulnerable to the pitfalls Jesus describes. His desire for his flock to evidence genuine piety can lead him to practice a hypocritical piety that betrays the gospel. In doing so, not only does he do himself a great disservice and put himself in great danger, but he also puts an obstacle in the path of his watchers.

The verdict of the Gospels is unanimous: public, showy piety, whatever its motivations, drove people away from God, His law, and the temple, and its practitioners hounded the Son of God to death. Piety before others to be seen by them is contrary to the gospel, which tells of the grace of the righteous God in His dealings with humble sinners.

So let pastors pray and commune with their heavenly Father; let them give generously of their income to further the kingdom; let them fast with joy in this period of the bridegroom’s absence. Of course there is a place for the pastor to publicly model discipleship, but his private practice of piety should resemble the majority of the iceberg, which remains under water. It is never doubted by those who sit under a godly minister, and it is the only sort that will genuinely transform the Church.

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[1] Witness the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees in 15:1-9 and Jesus’ excoriating condemnation of the Pharisees in 23:1-36.