Treasure

Isaiah 58:1-12

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Treasure

Are we God’s people? Have we committed ourselves to being the ones who follow God despite it not being cool and sometimes we have to sacrifice what we want for what He wants? Isn’t that what we are here for today? We remember that we are created from dust and to dust we shall return. We remember that if God had not breathed the breath of life into us we would be nothing at all.

In Isaiah, God is pretty disappointed with his people over their fasting rituals, but more than that it is their lack of love and appreciation that has God shaking her head and saying, “If only you would listen to my commands I would give you everything”. But the people do not do that. Instead, they pretend to follow the fasting rituals, pretend they are interested in God’s ways, but then they follow a different path entirely. They choose to go their own way rather than God’s way. God is disappointed in their hypocrisy.

It is like when the United States government begins to finally consider cutting spending and one of the ideas is to change the dollar bill to a coin because it could save us $5.5 billion dollars, Americans who were yelling about overspending all of a sudden gripe about pockets jingling and how they prefer the dollar bill to a coin. We’re hypocrites. Instead of embracing an idea that would save us money, we cling to the old dollar bill that is no longer economically healthy for us to keep.

It is the same thing when Christians talk about loving their neighbors and welcoming everyone who comes through the church door, but when someone very different from the congregation walks in, the people become uneasy and cold toward the person. They forget that God tells us to love everyone. Not everyone who is easy to love or everyone who is just like us. We are to care for every single person – especially those people who are hardest to care for.

A young widow with her three children wanted to attend a Christmas Eve service and so she dressed up her two sons and daughter and headed to the nearest church. When she went to walk inside, the pastor stopped her and began to speak to her. At first, she thought he was merely being friendly until he pointedly looked around and asked, “And where is your husband this evening, Ma’am?” When she said it was just her and her children attending the service the pastor told her, “We don’t welcome your kind here”. She hadn’t mentioned she was a widow because it was still so fresh of a wound that she knew she would have cried and tonight was about enjoying Christ’s birth. Not that it mattered to this man who felt he had the right to judge her and turn her and her young children away.

These passages we read today deal mostly with fasting practices, but behind the fasting is the point that we allow ourselves to become hypocrites in our religious practices. In Matthew, it warns us not to allow people to see us giving to the poor because it is no one’s business but God’s and our own. When you call attention to things like that, you do not give your money to help the poor or to be a good steward, you are doing it to bring yourself glory.

The same is true with fasting. If you show yourself as worn out and hungry, you will generate sympathy and admiration from those around you and Jesus says that will be your only reward. Instead, he says that we should put on our best clothes and act happy when we fast because then no one but God will know our sacrifice and we will be rewarded.

We fast not to bring attention to what good Christians we are, but because we are showing God our faithfulness. We are trying to relate to what Jesus has gone through. We are relating to our fellow human beings who go hungry at night, who do not have a roof over their heads and are persecuted for their beliefs. We fast not to show people what a great person we are but to remind ourselves that we are nothing but the dust of the earth that God has given life too. It is not about us, and it never has been.

We need to get over ourselves. We are to remember that the only treasure we require is what we have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ. Treasure is not gold or a house or a car. It is not a big diamond ring or a fancy office space. The real treasure in life is a family that cares about you, friends who would give you the shirt off their back if they knew you needed it. Treasure is knowing that just as Isaiah said, “You will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” It is knowing that God is there for you. It is knowing that Jesus Christ became a man who lived, died and was resurrected so that you might have eternal life.

Treasure is knowing that Jesus became sin so that we may be forgiven for our sins. Ash Wednesday is about remembering we are nothing without God. We are nothing without Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for us. We are nothing without the Holy Spirit who guides us and molds us into new creations. We are nothing without the God who loves and cares for us, the God who has breathed life into us and has forgiven us more times than we can count because we mean the world to our Creator. We are precious in God’s Sight.

During this Lenten season, take the time to fast and pray. Take the time to remember how little you would have if God was not with you. Give thanks that God remains faithful no matter how often we turn away and ignore his commands. Give thanks for Jesus Christ and for the blessing of a God that cares enough to bring suffering upon himself. Thanks be to God the Father, to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit! Amen.