Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

Have you ever done a secret mission? Perhaps at one time you have secretly worked very hard to make a special Mother’s Day card, not letting her know that it was coming until you set it down in front of her on her special day. Only dad knew because you needed a little help spelling some words. Or maybe you worked very hard saving some money by cutting grass or selling cookies, not so that you could buy the latest toy for yourself, but so that you could buy some socks for the homeless or diapers for the women’s shelter. Only dad knew because he was the one who paid you for cutting the grass and bought your cookies. Or maybe you and dad got into the car one Saturday and drove to the house of someone who was having a hard time and left a special package by their front door, driving away again without even ringing the doorbell or texting them that it was there.

 

These kinds of secret missions are done because you want to do something for someone else. You know that it will cost you time and money and that it requires some hard work. You know that you need a little bit of help to carry it through, and dads are good at keeping secrets and helping when you want to do something nice for someone. And although it is tempting to want to shout out, “I did that!”, what is really important is that you did something for someone else. After all, you have been taken care of by your parents and loved by them, so the best thing you can do is love other people too.

 

The penitential practices of love that are outlined in today’s Gospel reading are really that simple. Every year we seem to struggle with them because we complicate them more than they need to be. We become overly concerned with who will find out about our secret mission, or how it should be properly done, or will it do any good, or do I have the time and energy for this.

 

Jesus said, “when you give to the needy, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:3-4). “... when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (v. 6). “...when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (vv. 17-18). It is that simple. Just do it and don’t draw attention to it. And your heavenly Father is there to help you.

 

Perhaps we do not trust ourselves, our vanity, our pride, our desire to be praised for everything that we do. That is why doing these things in secret actually makes them easier to do. Perhaps we are afraid to fail, to not get it right, that it might turn out to be a pitiful expression of our Christian love. But that’s okay if they are done in secret. No one will know except our heavenly Father. And He looks upon all of our deeds done in faith and love as an earthly father looks upon the Mother’s Day card created by his child. There is nothing more beautiful in all of creation.

 

A lot of guides and helps and instructions have been devised over the centuries about how to give offerings, how to pray, and how to fast. They are okay if they are used as suggestions and helps, but we tend to get discouraged by them and feel that they set a bar too high for us to reach. Then we don’t do anything at all. Really, the only rules are to do these things with love for others and in thankfulness for what your heavenly Father has done for you.

 

Because your Father in heaven has loved you when you didn’t deserve to be loved, you then can also love other people even if they don’t deserve your love. The only way you could ever do that is by knowing of the Father’s love for you.

 

Because Jesus has sacrificed Himself in obedience to the Father’s will to have us all as His children, you can make sacrifices in order to relieve others from poverty, hunger, grief, and loneliness. If God did not show how much He gave in order to have you as His own, you wouldn’t be able to give anything to anyone else.

 

Because God communicated His love for you in sending Jesus, His Son, His Word made flesh, you can put into words your pleas for those in need of your prayers. You can pray for your family and your church, for your country and the world. Your Saviour, Jesus, sits at the right hand of the Father praying for you, and making all of your prayers acceptable and worthy of God’s mercy and gracious blessing.

 

It really isn’t as hard as our sinful self-centredness would have us believe. There are no worthy excuses for not doing these things year round. Jesus didn’t preach this sermon on an Ash Wednesday long ago. There was no Ash Wednesday back then. It was most likely part of a sermon that He preached at different times in different places, on Wednesdays and other days of the week, in the times of the year when the hours of daylight were lengthening and in the times when they were getting shorter.

 

But we seem to need a special time of year to devote ourselves to these Lenten practices, and to call to mind how precious and special these acts of love and thankfulness are to our Father in heaven. Otherwise we might not do them at all, or always be doing them for the wrong reasons. So every year, on a Wednesday, when the hours of daylight are lengthening, 40 days plus Sundays before our great celebration of Easter, we listen to Jesus telling us to do these acts of love in secret, but with our heavenly Father.

 

It gives your Father in heaven great pleasure to be with you as you do something nice for someone. It gives him great pleasure to help you give generously. It gives him great pleasure when you set yourself aside from all distractions and pray to him on behalf of others. It gives him great pleasure when you ask for His help to make sacrifices that will strengthen your love for others and your devotion to Him. And when you do it in secret, you know that it is coming from His gracious and overflowing love through you. Any father will tell you what a joy it is when their children let them in on their secret missions of love.

 

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.