When No One is Watching – March 9, 2025, First Sunday in Lent
Joel 2:21-27, Matthew 6:1-18
March 9, 2025, First Sunday in Lent
Picture this. You’re on a country road at night. And you’re anxious to get home. You’re the only car visible in any direction. It’s completely dark, except that, in the distance, you see a traffic signal. You think, “Oh good! It’s green!” But sure enough, as you approach, it turns yellow, and then the dreaded red! So you stop. And it’s a long red! And… there’s nobody else around! What do you do? Do you wait for it to turn green again before you go? How many of you have been in that situation?
It’s been said that “integrity” is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching! And no, I’m not going to have you answer the question about the red light. But I do want you to think about it. Because I think it’s a similar thought to what Jesus is saying here. He said, “Beware of practicing your piety before men.” He was saying that it’s not so important that you are a pious person – a “godly” person – for the world to see. What’s important is being a godly person inwardly, when no one is watching.
Notice, Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t be pious, that we shouldn’t be godly. (That’s another word for “pious.”) Hey, he said we’re the light of the world. We’re that “city set on a hill for all the world to see.” We are representatives – ambassadors – of the Christian faith, whether we like it or not! But as always, Jesus wants us to look inward. He wants us to think about what motivates us – on the inside. Jesus always asks what’s in our hearts.
He said, “Beware of practicing your piety before men, in order to be seen by them!” “If that’s your motivation,” he said, “your piety will do you no good.” “Oh, you’ll have your ‘reward.’” “The people you’re trying to impress will see you.” “But you’ll have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.” In other words, you will miss the true reward – the real benefit, the main point of it all – which is your relationship with God. That’s the reward he’s talking about!
Now, I have to say that, for a lot of people in this world, piety is not all that big an issue. It’s not something people really think about. It’s not a “badge of honor” they wear. In fact, I would say that, in our world, piety is on the endangered species list. People don’t see it as a thing to be pursued. And because of that, we too have that temptation not to think about it, either. I suspect that many of us have more of a struggle with even being pious at all – whether anyone’s watching, or not!
The reason I say all this, is that we are now in the season of Lent. And Lent is a time we set aside for introspection. It’s a time we look inside ourselves. It’s a time we take a look at our life, and our faith, and we try to see where we’ve fallen short, where we need to improve, where we need to go deeper, and where we need to let our light shine a little brighter.
The things we traditionally associate with this time of year are in the writing we call the “Invitation to Observe a Holy Lent.” We sometimes read that at our service on Ash Wednesday, and I had Donna put in our bulletins today. We are called to observe a “Holy Lent,” “with self-examination and repentance, with prayer and fasting, and with self-denial.” And those are the things Jesus was talking about here, aren’t they? And Jesus is the greatest teacher on this.
“Do those things,” he says. “Do the repentance, prayer and fasting, and self-denial. But do them for the right reason!” Waiting for that green light just because you think a policeman might be somewhere nearby is not the right reason. Waiting for the green because it’s the right thing to do, even if no body’s watching, that’s the right reason! Doing those spiritual things so that others can see you is not the right reason. Doing them to get closer to God is!
“So when you give of yourself,” Jesus says, “do it in secret.” “When you fast, don’t look like you’re fasting.” “And when you pray, don’t stand on a corner. Go into your closet.” “And by the way, when you do pray, don’t ‘heap up’ empty sounding phrases.” “Pray like this,” he says. And then he gives us, what? He gives us what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” And it’s the greatest, most prayed prayer in history. And think about it. It’s a simple prayer. It’s not flowery. It’s not heaped up with empty phrases!
Jesus is telling us about the attitude behind those things. That’s what we strive for during Lent. He’s not telling us not to pray, fast, or give. He’s telling us that when we do so, the important thing is what’s in the heart. We don’t do those things so people will see us. We don’t even do them to make us better at doing them. We do them so we can be more in tune with God.
Lent is a time we remember that. And we remember it now, so we can remember it for the rest of the year! We remember it now, so that when we do those things, we will do them even “when no one is watching.” Because in all of that, we can be sure that someone is watching! Our God, our Father, the one who sees us in the secret places of our hearts, he is the one who’s watching.
Prayer
Eternal God, help us this Lenten season to look seriously at our lives and our faith. Help us to see where we have fallen short, where we need to improve, where we need to go deeper, and where we need to let our light shine a little brighter. Help us to have the courage to see ourselves as you see us! Lift us up so that we can see your kingdom in our midst, and draw ever closer to you. For this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.