Jesus tells us in Matthew that the Pharisees used to go
around doing good deeds and when they did, they had a bunch of trumpeters make
a racket and call attention to whatever it was they did. I can just see the spectacle now…imagine it
looking like what happens when the magician on stage makes the person he just
cut in half become whole again. Whoopee,
look how great I am!
It’s pretty warped how they turned a good thing into a
self-serving and prideful act. In
contrast, Jesus healed lepers, raised the dead, etc. and frequently told people
to shush! Don’t tell anyone I did this.
I think a bit of humility was there, even from the Son of God who had no
reason to need to be humble. It never
did much good to tell people to be quiet about it. Actually, he needed his miraculous healings to be
known to attest to his credibility as being from God. There was very little he could do to silence
those who witnessed those miracles. He
didn’t need a brass band to play.
So what’s the take away message for that for us today? We definitely are called to service as
Christians, and there are many things we can do without making it widely
known. Some things, however, beg to be
made known as examples to be imitated.
Compassion, International, World Vision and the like are good
examples. The collective power of these
organizations has resulted in help to children in need the world over. Without advertisement of those deeds you and
I would never know we can support such an endeavor. That makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense
is when I see people bragging about all the organizations they support. It’s a fine line to cross, making things
known without aggrandizing your personal contribution.
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