Matthew 6:1-4 – Giving, Alms, Righteousness

If we really grasp what Jesus was trying to say in Matthew 6:1-4. Oh boy!

In the most popular versions we read words like alms and righteousness which gives us a false sense of security in the thought that we most certainly aren’t doing that. In my many years as part of a church body, most often I’ve heard these verses associated with money, tithing, offerings. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing – I give in secret and know one should know what I give.

But if we dig a bit deeper, we’d find just how far off we are on this. So far off, we are in danger of loosing rewards.

Greek speaking Jews thought of this word almost exclusively as giving charity to the needy. Given this meaning, we might have to ask the question, “Who are the needy?” Does the needy have to mean someone who is poor? Or could the needy just mean someone in need? It sounds very much like the question of “Who is my neighbor?” If you have to ask, then maybe you are missing the point – right?

However, for the Jews whom Jesus was speaking to, it was more connected to righteousness. Many at that time had come to use alms as redemptive. For a Christian today, we might say, they believed by doing alms they would be saved. They wanted everyone to know how righteous they were. They wanted to be recognized as one of the better Jews. For them, alms could atone for their sins and deliver them from death. Rabbi Assi said, giving of alms “equated to the whole law.”

There is a distinction between doing “good works” and “giving alms” because in Acts 9, Tabatha is described as a woman full of good works and kind acts or alms. And we know there are many scriptures referencing judging and seeing someone good works. But here, Jesus is saying to do your alms in secret. We won’t go into what are “good works” here, but we can safely say, they are different than what is being talked about here.

Instead of thinking of alms in regard to offerings and tithes, or associated with righteousness, a better word for today might be the word kindness.

Do not do your kindness before men. There, now you see it?

Jesus goes on to say, if you do your kindness SO THAT men will see it … let’s stop right there. This doesn’t mean men won’t see your kindness, it means if you are doing your kindness SO THAT men will see it. Do you see the difference there. You might do kindness men can see. This isn’t about anything outward, it’s about something inward that only you and YHWH/God will know. Someone who wants their kindness noticed will only do kindness that can be seen. They will want recognition for what they’ve done. If we are truly doing this type of kindness, we wont care if anyone notices or not. Because we will know regardless of if someone sees it or not, YHWH/God sees it. And that’s all that should matter to us.

If we do kindness SO THAT men will see it – then men will give us our rewards, “Ata boy!”, “Great Job!”, “Way to go!”, “Thank you.” That’s all you’ll get. And we all know how quickly men forget the kindness we do right? It’s a fleeting reward. It’s a sugar spike, a quick high, instant gratification, followed by a big drop off at the end. It can leave us feeling unappreciated, disgruntled, maybe even depressed.

“Don’t let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.” There is a lot more being said here if we turn back the clocks and hear it from the stand point of someone in the crowd that day.

The right could represent Jerusalem. But it typically represented power and strength, most specifically of YHWH/God. The right hand was directly tied to the word ‘believe.’ It also represented a good inclination to do what was right.

On the other hand – did you see that right there – it’s an idiom we use all of the time today – but when we use it – no physical hand is literally being referred to, that is what this saying was as well. On the other hand, the left symbolized weakness and represented the evil inclination to do what was wrong.

Don’t let your evil inclination, your weaknesses, take over what your good inclinations are doing. Be strong and believe and do the right thing. If we are a true disciple of YHWH/God, we won’t look for men to recognize our kindness. Not that we won’t receive recognition, not that we can’t appreciate the recognition, but we do not NEED the recognition, because we already know in our hearts, we have been recognized.

Our Father, he sees. He sees your heart. He knows what you are really thinking when you do kindness. He knows how you are really feeling when you do kindness. And if we are connected with our Father, we will know that he knows and we’ll know we are seen.

Here’s the kicker in all of this. If in our hearts we are doing kindness so men will see, we’ll get exactly what we want outwardly, but we won’t get what we want inwardly. Leaving us with an unfilled hole. Inwardly, we won’t feel satisfied. No matter how much another human recognizes our kindness, it won’t feel rewarding. We’ll keep doing kindness and doing kindness and wanting more rewards and more rewards, and feeling more and more empty. It’s a drug habit leading to death.

Once we give up wanting man’s recognition, we’ll get what we are looking for. Jesus says, if we do kindness in secret, not caring if any human sees it or recognizes it, our Father … he will see and reward us. Wait, there really isn’t a period there. In the NIV, it’s he will reward you – period. In KJV, it’s he will reward you openly. That seems like a significant difference doesn’t it?

There is another word there, and it means openly, make known, outwardly, appear. So do you see it? Our Father will openly, make known, outwardly, appear to reward us.

Do you feel like others around you get all the notice? Like everything they do it seems like people make a big deal out of it? But no one notices what you do? Time to check your heart there buddy. You might be getting the same thing they get, but you don’t feel like it. Why? Because your rewards are coming from humans, out of the hearts of humans. They are not sinking into you inwardly. They aren’t filling that hole. They will leave you wanting more.

But when the kindness comes from a good heart, you will know your Father sees and he will reward you, your hole will be filled. You will be satisfied. You will be rewarded. Some of that reward may even come from humans. And what you thought you weren’t getting before, you will see you have been getting all along.

Oh boy!