‘What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you love to sit in the seats of honour in the synagogues and receive respectful greetings as you walk in the marketplaces’ - Jesus, (Luke 11:43-44)
‘Your Father sees what is done secretly’ (Mt 6:18)
Spirituality can be a great way to draw attention to ourselves, as we practice ‘pray and display’ religion, as my friend Gerard Kelly calls it. Insisting that seeking God should never be used as an opportunity to impress others, Jesus called for disciplines that are practiced for an audience of one, and as he did, he used the term ‘hypocrites’ to describe the self-promotion of the Pharisees. The hypokrites were skilled thespians, traveling bands of actors in the Greek theatres. As the actors plied their craft onstage, their vividly painted, grossly exaggerated masks made them look so convincing. As a boy, it’s possible that Jesus might have seen these theatrical companies in action – the remains of a nearby theatre have been discovered in the area where he was raised.
The Pharisees used religion as a performance script, their lives a well-rehearsed, pious masquerade. The street corners became their stage as they prayed loudly. They invested heavily in the wardrobe department, with their dress-to-impress gowns and dangling phylacteries - leather bound scriptures tied to their hair. The Pharisees actually whitened their faces, put ashes on their heads, wore their clothes in shoddy disarray, refused to wash, and looked as forlorn as possible. But they were hypocrites.
Some commentators and historians (Calvin included) believed that the rich actually employed trumpet players to go out into the street and stand on the temple steps to “blow his own trumpet” and announce a large gift being given…
Jesus called His followers to embrace secrecy in their spirituality, (prayer, fasting and giving are examples) because the pharisees’ posturing behaviour shows that there is a temptation for us to use spiritual practices to impress others rather than truly connect with God. That doesn’t mean that we should never gather to pray or have times of corporate fasting, but it does challenge us to watch our motives as we walk with Jesus.
Gerard Kelly - The Games People Pray.
Some pray like a BMW,
7 coats of shine and shimmer masking the hardness of steel
With an anti-emotion warranty to guard against the least sign of trust.
Some pray like a Porsche.
0 to Victory in 6.7 seconds
Banking on the promises of pray as you earn prosperity.
Jesus recommended praying in the garage, with the door shut,
Engine and radio off,
Praying when no-one is looking, forgetting the traffic of the day, meeting God in the quiet lay-by far from the pray and display.
Dallas Willard:
‘The discipline of secrecy will help us break the grip of human opinions over our souls and our action. A discipline is an activity in our power that we do to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort. We from time to time practice doing things approved of in our religious circles – giving, praying fasting, attending services at the church and so on - but in such a way that no one knows. Thus our motivation and reward for doing these things cannot come from human beings. We are liberated from slavery to eyes and then it doesn't matter whether people know or not. We learn to live constantly in this way’
The Divine Conspiracy, Recovering Our Hidden Life in God, Dallas Willard, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1998, p.200