Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Take care not to perform righteous deeds
in order that people may see them;
otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.
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.
Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you give alms,
do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,
so that your almsgiving may be secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.
“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.
But 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.
“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.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
so that you may not appear to others to be fasting,
except to your Father who is hidden.
And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
We learn early in life that pleasing others and being seen as someone who does good things means we will be better accepted, even honored.
We can see this in our culture a lot in actors and sports figures. And we as a society support this royal treatment and recognition. We honor them with our money and time and attention. More than we ever honor God, it’s true. Many times people can be seen subordinating God for our earthly idols. How much time do we spend in Tv and movies and sports games over worship and prayer?
And so, we too strive to make sure that we, in our own way, are seen as good people or actually we can seek to be seen as better people.
Better than those people.
When one ensures by their visible actions that others see them doing good things we are not living as Christ taught us. But we are more focused on the admiration of others than the will of God. We can even demonstrate our deep piety or worship in a way others can see us for who we think we are… better than others. Worship is a good thing. Being seen as a faithful follower of Jesus is a good thing. But how we carry ourselves and over dramatizing our prayers for the sake of those who see us is another thing. And shows our priorities are more about appearances and position.
We all see this regularly. We can see it with new ministers too unfortunately. They may be a volunteer or even a paid minister and exalt this position over others. Clergy are not exempt and new clergy get caught up frequently.
It is not until we realize that as ministers of the Eucharist or Word or even ordained clergy, we are really now servants to all around us.
We are there to wash the feet of others rather than demonstrate our high position.
This is what Jesus saw among the religious leaders of his time and our time is not immune from it.
We are not called to worship Hollywood or sports teams or anyone but God. We come to worship to offer ourselves as sacrifice and humbly participate in the Eucharist.
We are all sinners who have no foothold in status available to us to build pride on. We are first and foremost, servants to all others.
Our public worship is for God alone. Our prayers and fasting is not for show but is a selfless offering to not take what we have a right to, but offer it to God.
At the end of the day the question is who do we worship, what is first in our life. And who are we in our relationship to God and others.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
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