Thursday 9th May
Read Matthew 6:2-4
“‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (NIVUK)
There is a measure of exaggeration in Jesus’ description of the trumpeting giver. It may be that culturally this could occur, but Jesus considers such giving to be hypocritical. The Greek term refers to ‘play-acting’ – faking it. Jesus thinks such giving is false because the motives are wrong. There is no integrity in seeming to care for the poor but in reality wanting the kudos of the rich.
Today, this would be called ‘virtue-signalling’. Finding a popular cause and then publicly donating or making a stand in support – not because you actually care about the issue – but because your customers may care about the issue and you really just want their custom. It is incredibly common today. The temptation to engage in it is high.
But what do you do if the cause actually is important and you want to support it? What if you don’t want to ‘virtue-signal’ but want to help? What advice would Jesus give?
