SERMON ON THE MOUNT: Teaching About the Private Life of the Christian Disciple and the Practice of Righteousness

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1 Lesson 15 A SOTM Christ s teaching on the Private Life of a Christian Disciple. SERMON ON THE MOUNT: Teaching About the Private Life of the Christian Disciple and the Practice of Righteousness CCC# 2608 "From the Sermon on the Mount onwards, Jesus insists on conversion of heart: reconciliation with one's brother before presenting an offering on the altar, love of enemies, and prayer for persecutors, prayer to the Father in secret, not heaping up empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the heart, purity of heart, and seeking the Kingdom before all else. This filial conversion is entirely directed to the Father." TEACHING ON THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE Jesus moves in His homily from teaching on the commands of the Old Testament law to teaching on other standards of Christian discipleship. Jesus continues with warnings against acts of charity that are only external acts offered in order to be seen and admired. He gives three examples of acts that should be offered in secret in the private lives of Christians in order not to divert glory to God into glory to self: 1. almsgiving [Matthew 6:1-4] 2. prayer [Matthew 6:5-15] 3. fasting [Matthew 6:16-18] He will use the authoritative "I say" in Matthew 6:2, 5, 16, 25, and 29 as His homily continues with His commands concerning the righteous Christian's motivation in caring for the poor, in prayer, in fasting and the hidden motives of the heart. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in article # 1434 continues to encourage these three necessary acts of holiness: "The interior penance of the Christian can be expressed in many and various ways. Scripture and the Fathers insist above all on three forms, fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, which express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others..." [also see Tobit 12:8]. TEACHING ABOUT ALMSGIVING "Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God." 1 Corinthians 4:5 Please read Matthew 6:1-4: 1 [But] take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. 2When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites * do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, 4so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

2 Jesus is not questioning the giving of charity to the needy. This is an obligation commanded in the Law of the Sinai Covenant [for example see Exodus 21:2; 22:20-26; 23:10ff; Deuteronomy 15:11]. Jesus is instead criticizing the intent of giving the misuse of charity for self-glorification and contrasting the insincerity of the "hypocrite" with the right conduct required of His disciples. Once again His emphasis is on the internal origin of holiness. In verse 2 Jesus condemns the blowing of trumpets: "When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others." This may or may not have been a practice of the wealthy when going to the Synagogue or the Temple to give alms in the 1 st century AD, or it may have just been an exaggeration on Jesus' part to condemn to the ostentatious way in which some wealthy Jews and Israelites drew attention to themselves and flaunted their alms-giving. Jesus' use of the word "hypocrites" is interesting because there is no counterpart for this Greek word in Hebrew or Aramaic [the common language of Jesus' time]. In Greek it refers to "playing a part" in Greek drama. In other words, the insincere almsgiver is only "play acting" for an audience and not sincerely giving from the heart. Some scholars have suggested that Jesus' use of this Greek word indicates that He spoke the Greek language, which would not be unusual for His time. Greek was the international language of the Roman world at this time in history as it had been for more than two centuries, and there were large Greek style theaters in the Galilee, in Samaria, and in Judea. For example the cities of Sepphoris and Tiberias in the Galilee and Caesarea [the residence of the Roman governor] had large 1 st century AD theaters where Greek dramas were performed. The theater at the Galilean regional capital of Sepphoris which seated 3,000 citizens was built during the time Jesus was growing up in neighboring Nazareth and St. Joseph and his son, trained in the skills of the tekton [a worker in hard materials], and may have been conscripted to work on Sepphoris' theater. Question: Is the giving of alms an option for the Christian? Answer: Jesus says "When you give alms" not "if you give." Question: Why does Jesus say that knowledge of these acts of charity should not be openly shared with our friends and acquaintances Answer: Because their admiration will be your reward but if you act in secret, your heavenly Father will reward you with a much greater blessing than mere temporal acknowledgement and praise. Question: Does showing mercy include the giving of alms? See Sirach 3:29; Matthew 6:1-4; Luke 12:33. Answer: It has always been a teaching of the Covenant people that to give alms to the needy greatly pleases God. Sirach 3:29 includes a promise, "Water quenches a flaming fire, and alms atone for sins." Mercy as an act of atonement endears the offered to God and atones for sin. The Church instructs those who do not abstain from meat on Fridays to do an act of charity in place of a meat sacrifice. See CCC# 1434; 1438; 1969; 2101; 2447; Jesus told a parable which illustrates the importance of the generosity of the wealthy to the disadvantaged in the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Please read Luke 16: Question: Was the rich man's disregard for the condition of the poor Lazarus a sin? Answer: To accept God's blessing of prosperity and to not use that gift to help the less fortunate is indeed a sin. The rich man was selfish and hardhearted. He did not have a heart of generosity and compassion he failed show mercy. He had not meant the obligations of the covenant that required him to care for the disadvantaged.

3 Question: What was ironic about the state of these two men in Sheol? How did God give justice to Lazarus and does this justice remind you of Jesus' curses of the wealthy in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke chapter 6? Answer: It is ironic that in Sheol, or Abraham's Bosom as the grave was called in the 1 st century AD, the roles of Lazarus and the rich man were reversed just as Jesus had warned would be the case in the Sermon on the Plain. TEACHING ABOUT PRAYER "Let us not forget to visit our Prisoner [Jesus in the Holy Eucharist], if only for a minute; this will be pleasing to Jesus. Let us tell Him we love Him. We might ask Him what He wants of us, what are His wishes. Sometimes we might ask Jesus something for ourselves and something for others. One can speak to Jesus as brother to brother, as friend to friend, more so, since it often happens that men do not understand us, whereas Jesus understands each of us always. Such conversations are pleasing to Jesus." St Maximilian Kolbe Please read Matthew 6:5-8 When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. 7 In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. * 8Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Speaking to an Israelite and Jewish audience, Jesus' words "When you pray" probably referred to the traditional three hours of prayer: Morning Prayer, Noon prayer, and Evening prayer [3pm was evening sundown, circa 6PM began the next day] which was faithfully recited by every righteous Old Covenant believer. The Old Covenant Hours of Prayer The first hour of prayer: 9AM is the first hour of prayer [see Acts 2:15] when the Temple gates opened. The Hebrew is "Shacharit"(morning) The second hour of prayer: Noon is the second hour of prayer [Acts 3:1; 10:9]. The Hebrew is "Minchah" (gift-offering) The third hour of prayer: 3PM is the third hour of prayer [Acts 3:1; 10:9] The Hebrew is "Ma'ariv" (evening; our afternoon is the Jewish evening). This hour of prayer was known as the "hour of confession." The next day began at sundown, or about 6PM. M. Hunt, copyright October 2005

4 For more information on the three hours of prayer see the Talmud: Mishnah Berakhot and The Jewish New Testament Commentary, page 228. Times were not exact in the ancient world and therefore these times in the chart are approximate, with the exception of the 12 noon hour which was marked by the sun being directly overhead. The day time was divided into 12 hour periods of approximately six hours before the noon and approximately 6 hours after noon, but the day was longer in the summer and shorter in the winter months. The righteous Old Covenant believer was required to pray the "Eighteen Benedictions" [petitions similar to the Lord's Prayer] three times daily at each of the designated prayer times. He was also required to recite the Sh'ma [Shema], the Old Covenant profession of faith [from Deuteronomy 6:4'9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41] four times, twice at Morning prayers, once in Evening prayers and one last time before going to bed. In addition to these prayers a righteous believer was to give thanks to God before, during and after meals [International Critical Commentary, page 588; Jewish Literacy, page ]. Question: Do you notice something interesting about these three different times for prayer: 9AM, 12 noon, and 3PM? Hint: see Mark 15:25; Matthew 27:45, 46. Answer: These three times correspond to Jesus' hours on the cross from 9AM when He was crucified to 12 noon when the sun disappeared, to 3PM, the last hour of prayer when He gave up His life. The three hours of prayer were determined by the "perpetual sacrifice" of the Tamid lambs around which the entire day's liturgy in the Temple revolved. Once more Jesus addresses seeking an interior desire to please God rather than exterior actions gaining the attention and approval of men, and once more Jesus uses the Greek word "hypocrites. Jesus first used this word in Matthew 6:2. He will use this word 12 times in Matthew's Gospel six of those times in Matthew 23:13-29, applying the insult directly to the "teachers of the law" and the Pharisees. Question: How does Jesus recommend that the Christian disciple pray? Answer: He stresses the necessity for private prayer alone with God. Question: Can you think of a time when Jesus practiced this example of private prayer? Hint: see Luke 6:12 and Matthew 26: Answer: He illustrated the importance of withdrawing for private prayer with God in Luke 6:12 before beginning the Sermon on the Mount when "...he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God.". Many times during Jesus' ministry He found it necessary to withdraw from the crowds and from His disciples to pray in solitude to His Father as He did in His last prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane [see Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-46]. Question: What does Jesus teach about prayer offered to God in these passages: Luke 18:10-14; Matthew 6:5-6; Mark 12:40; Matthew 6:7-8; 7:7-11; Luke 11:5-13; 18:1-8; Matthew 21:22; 18:19-20; John 14:13-14; 15:7, 16; and 16:23-27? Answer: Throughout His ministry Jesus taught His disciples: 1. Prayer offered to God should come from a humble heart whether offered in private prayer or while praying with others and He gave us the assurance in Matthew 18:19-20 "Amen I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." [Also see Matthew 6:5-6; Mark 12:40; Luke 18:10-14]. 2. Prayer should come from the depth of one's heart rather than only from the lips: Matthew 6:7 "In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words".

5 3. In our prayers we should make our petitions trusting not in our needs but in God's goodness: Matthew 6:8 " Your Father knows what you need before you ask him." [also Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 9:11-13]. 4. We should be direct and persistent in our prayers: Luke 11:9-10 "And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." [see entire passage in Luke 11:5-13; and also see18:1-8; Matthew 7: Prayer must be made with faith, in the name of Jesus, and asking only for what is good: Matthew 21:22 "Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive." [Also see Matthew 7:11; John 14:13-14; 15:7, 16-17; 16:23-27]. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus now contrasts desired Christian conduct with the conduct of the pagans who "babble" in their prayers. Question: Is Jesus forbidding public prayer or repetitive prayer like the rosary in this passage? Answer: Jesus obviously does not mean to forbid repetitive prayer for in the very next passage He gives His disciples the most often repeated prayer in the history of salvation and in Luke 11:2 before praying Luke's version of this prayer He commands us to repeat it saying "When you pray say:..."! Jesus is also not banning public prayer which He led often during His ministry [see Matthew 11:25ff; Mark 6:41; Luke 11:1; John 11:41-42]. Nor can Jesus be referring to the reciting of the rosary which is not "meaningless babble" but instead praying the rosary fills the mind of the individual with the life, ministry, passion and glorification of Jesus Christ as experienced in the life of His mother. The beads of the rosary do not distract us in our prayer but focus our attention on our prayers in order to concentrate our minds on the visions of the events in the lives of our Savior and His mother. It is only prayer that is selfcentered instead of God-centered and the meaningless chanting of pagan worship which often consisted of repetitive chanting of the god's name in order to compel the deity to respond to the petition desired that Jesus is condemning. His point is that prayer is for God alone and the Christian soul in prayer must be turned to God alone. Question: What does Jesus mean when He tells us to go into an "inner room, close the door and pray to your Father in secret"? Answer: When not praying as a faith community, Jesus may be recommending that we pray in a confined space to avoid earthly distractions or as St. Augustine interpreted His words, "What are those bed chambers but just our hearts themselves...[...]. Hence the door is to be shut, i.e. the fleshly sense is to be resisted, so that the spiritual prayer may be directed to the Father, which is done in the inmost heart, where prayer is offered to the Father which is in secret." Whether literally or figuratively, we must be able to pray in a way where one's complete attention can turn to God. Teaching about Fasting. Read Matthew 16:18 16 When you fast, * do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

6 In general abstinence from food or drink, a term common to the various Teutonic tongues. Some derive the word from a root whose primary signification means to restrain one's self. In like manner the term comprehends penitential practices common to various religious communities in the Church. Finally, in the strict acceptation of the term, fasting denotes abstinence from food, and as such is an act of temperance finding its raison d'être in the dictates of natural law and its full perfection in the requirements of positive ecclesiastical legislation. No student of ecclesiastical discipline can fail to perceive that the obligation of fasting is rarely observed in its integrity nowadays. Conscious of the conditions of our age, the Church is ever shaping the requirements of this obligation to meet the best interests of her children. At the same time no measure of leniency in this respect can eliminate the natural and divine positive law imposing mortification and penance on man on account of sin and its consequences. We too often think of fasting as only related to how we use food for our human nature instead of the deeper meaning of learning to deny our selfish desires and turn ourselves toward serving God s will. Self Denial and Spiritual growth This is an ancient practice (predating Christianity) and very widespread (found in virtually every primitive culture). The practice of asceticism in Christianity can be traced from the prophets (especially John the Baptist) to the Apostles (especially St Paul) and is the foundation of Monasticism. Fasting does limit certain bodily passions in a medical sense, and the periodic deprivation of comforts, and even inflicting minor pain, trains the body and soul in a disciplined path. Fasting, for example, should actually be a way of praying...using your body's reflexes to remind you to converse with God. We should never fast alone, we fast with Him. And in this way we use suffering as a way to draw closer to Him. More union with Him is achieved in this manner. Frank Sheed wrote that man is often forgetful of the fact that he is both body and spirit: he belongs essentially to both these realities, those of the world of matter and the world of spirit. "In both worlds [man] has the closest and most vital contacts: it is a pity that he is so much more keenly aware of the lower one, and so sketchily and intermittently aware of the upper, for both are realities, and realities that affect him profoundly" (Theology and Sanity, p. 163). Over-emphasis of the flesh and de-emphasis of the spirit is a grave mistake. But why is self-denial so important for us? For the simple fact that we do not get closer to God by living as materialists whose lives are spent seeking pleasure, comfort and ease, while our immortal soul, which will live on into eternity, is starved. Second, due to the fact that the flesh is weak, it is easy to fall into sin; therefore the body must be forced to subject itself to the spirit. The flesh must be trained, subdued in order that the intellect and the will are able to rule over it more easily. One critical aspect of self-denial is almsgiving. Note that while wealthy people were putting their offerings into the treasury, our Savior "noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins." It is certain that our Master notices when we deny ourselves of some convenience or entertainment and instead give those funds we would have otherwise used for our own pleasure to the poor. Another element of self-denial is self-sacrifice; for there can be no true denial of self apart from sacrifice. We are speaking of those sacrifices we make which show God we cherish him as the

7 greatest and highest Good - those fragrant flowers which pass from our acts of selflessness into the heavens where they are gathered by angels hands, made into wreaths for our loving Savior who willingly poured his blood upon the Cross for our sake, and preserved in order that we may one day clearly see the full splendor of every good deed. There is a great and unexplainable immenseness in the mystery of sacrifice. Nevertheless, it is certain that every sacrifice we make for love of God becomes a fragrant rose of eternal sweetness which our Lord gathers in his own glorified, loving hands. Let us go forth into the desert with Christ, where, along with him, we deny ourselves out of love. Let us prove to God we love him above all else. Let us engage in acts of voluntary self-denial, training our body, nourishing our spirit that, in prayer, we may begin to truly see the unfathomable value and riches of giving ourselves entirely over to God. It is about cultivating a love for Love. Self-denial aka mortification should be considered a long term program. We use a simple rule of life in the spirit of OBEDIENCE. We start trying to do things God's way instead of our own. The mortifications are not that drastic, but they do serve to keep our mind on God. The long term purpose of all this is conversion, a turning to God. It will not happen overnight. We are not yet saints. But it gives us penitents a formal structure to build on as we continue our training to become saints. Self-denial is a critical aspect of discipleship. It's part of self-mortification, another vital aspect of following Christ. If we are to be like Christ and partake in divine intelligence, we must constantly struggle to overcome our nature. It's a minute-by-minute challenge, constantly confronting us, in this world of moral chaos. But self-denial is much more than denying ourselves physical pleasure. It demands that we discipline ourselves such that our every thought and deed, down to the minutest detail, conforms to the standards of impeccable discipleship. This means that we gradually defeat every vice within us, under all circumstances. We must even be willing to die, at any time, for our Christian identity. Self-denial, is from metanoia which means to "reverse direction", to reverse one's direction that would be away from God, and redirect self to God. Sometimes acts of mortification and so called self-denial are merely self-indulgent so one can feel oneself as holy and doing good. This is all about self and indulging self. True self-denial will go against self. By the very same token, acts of mortification and self-denial, are not always self-indulgent. It is all about the true interior motivation which of course God always knows, no matter what one may tell oneself - and as one grows closer to God, the true interior motivation perhaps hidden from self previously, is revealed to the self in quite a clear way. Prayer is a great honor and privilege if one thinks about it, and prayer per se is not self-denial at all. I would never tell myself that prayer time is self-denial, even on those times when I really don t want nor feel like praying...rather I would try to stir myself to the great honor and privilege that prayer indeed is.

8 Questions for group discussion: What are some of the different kinds of prayer? Does God always answer our prayers? Sometimes we do not really know what we are praying for or what will be best for us on our spiritual journey. Does He answer the desire of our lips or the deeper desire of our hearts? For example, one may be praying for a certain job but the deeper desire is for a job that will bring personal satisfaction and allow one to fulfill God's plan in that person's life. Does the long term plan affect the current goal in God's view? How does Stewardship relate to Christ s teaching on almsgiving, prayer and fasting? What are some acts of mortification that can help your spiritual growth?