Mathew Chapter six ......continues 4

We have been discussing what Jesus taught in the session known as ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. That reveals the fact about the non-material side of life, the opposite and inevitable pole of material life, which is possessed only by human beings. What we have to do with this side in order to get the right welfare for our life? By satisfying material side only, a perfect welfare is not possible (The important welfare is after this life). So, to a certain extend we have to be away from material world and proportionally close to the non-material world which is known as ‘Kingdom of heaven’ in this book – Gospel According to Mathew. To become away from that much distance which is needed to close to this Kingdom, we have to maintain a particular attitude, mentality or state of mind. That is explained in different way here in Gospels. So, when we examine closely each verse, we can see each of them tell us the attitude or mentality we have to maintain along with each office or deeds. We will feel them very much bitter because we so close to material world and an intense desire to enjoy the pleasures peculiar to material side of life, thereby our hearts (desires or emotions) adopt even this spirituality as a tool to enjoy that pleasures, which ultimately lead us to a hypocritical life that gives no satisfaction and any kind of welfare.
So when Jesus teach us about what we have to practice, he very clearly pointing out the other side which our hearts may lead us to, saying ‘don’t be like hypocrites’. Most of us become mad when we hear this because we are like that hypocrites. So forgive me, I know you become mad some times reading my studies as I become often. Follow Jesus doesn’t mean starve and die. If anybody want to know secrete of what Jesus teach us, read the portion of a story given below which is from an Indian classic.
Once one scholar who was a devotee had to encounter with the divine one, and to test the devotee he asked some questions and the devotee answered as follows.
“What is happiness?”
“Happiness is the result of good conduct.”
“Who accompanies a man in death?”
“Dharma (Righteousness). That alone accompanies the soul in its solitary journey after death.”
“What is that, abandoning which man becomes loved by all?”
“Pride – for abandoning that man will be loved by all.”
“What is the loss which yields joy and not sorrow?”
“Anger – giving it up, we will no longer be subjected to sorrow.”
“What is that, by giving up which, man becomes rich?”
“Desire – by getting rid of it, man becomes wealthy.”
Hearing these answers the divine one pleased and told the scholar to ask any boon.

Mathew Chapter six....continues 3

Whatever you perform yourself spiritually is mainly for the purpose of make changes in yourselves. Means the reaction of your activity should be from your inner being not from your outer environment. Your spiritual activities should make changes on inner-you. Each and every spiritual office should result in specific change on your inner being. To happen so, you should not focus on social environment for rewards and appreciations; let them learn from you, it should be so. Why? Let us examine these verses.

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 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.

What do we do when we fast? We starve our senses to disappear the objects of senses from us. What purpose for? Close to God and to be away from material world. When we starve our senses we became away from the world to certain extend and proportionally close to (fast) the Supreme power. So, if we desire appreciation or any other kind of reward from the part of world, what is the use of fasting? Does it make any effect on the spiritual plane, which is secrete or invisible? So when you fast, make it a personal affair and secrete so that it can make tremendous change on your spiritual plane. If it so, when you starve your senses, not only the object of senses disappear from you but the yearning for them also disappear and become close with The Supreme. Otherwise, when you fast, beholding God, the yearning for the object of those senses gradually disappear.

The soul disciplined by true fasting, moving among sense objects with the senses weaned from likes and dislikes and brought under the control of spirit, attain peace of mind.

Mathew Chapter six……………..continues-2

7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

 “Our Father in heaven,

 Hallowed be your name.1 

 10 your kingdom come,

 Your will be done,2

 On earth as it is in heaven.

 11 Give us this day our daily bread,3 

 12 and forgive us our debts,

As we also have forgiven our debtors.

 13 And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.4 

 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

One important fact, what these verses remind us is that prayer is not a verbal exercise but spiritual exercise. Otherwise, the words of lips and tongue are the physical or material activities and, when we look from the point of prayer, it will not reap spiritual crop. How many words and sentences we used or how much length our prayer has, doesn’t matter but how our non-verbal prayer is matter. Means how our inner being is matter; whether it can communicate with the supreme power or not? Again, it is the matter of secrete part, the invisible sphere, of human being. If we borrow some psychological idea, we can state, ‘how your subconscious mind is so you are’.

Otherwise we mustn’t pray with the parts or organs which interact with material world. We have to with some other part or organ that interacts with non material fact. To do so, when we pray we have to completely give up relaying on the organs that help us to interact with material or natural environment, then the other organ or part that communicate with the heavenly one will come to life. Means need a lot of experience to do so. Practice leads to perfection. According to verse 8, we should not believe that God doesn’t know anything unless we tell him. Means, prayer is mainly to mold our conscience and mentality. Not to inform our needs and desires to God. How is that? Let us look into that.

We have to believe, according to verse 9, that a supreme power exists and he deserves praise. According to verse 10 our mentality should be in such a way that everything should go in Godly or righteous way. We have to exists, so we need what needed to exist, means, be away from the mentality to make unrighteous gains, verse 11 remind us. Verse 12 molds our conscience to forgive. And the verse 13 molds our mentality not to fall in temptations and evil.

Prayer is the auto suggestion for this.

Means mentality of praying is important. We have to mold ourselves through prayer. Make change in ourselves, not in God, in such a way that God may accept us.

Mathew chapter six …..Continues

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But 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. 

In this chapter many verses warn us to do our righteous deeds very secretly. There is a very important reason to advice us so. In Mathew 4:4 Jesus defined the two fold peculiarity of human life. One is material being; this side is always influenced by material world and its peculiarities. This side seeks satisfaction from outside world that encompasses material and social environment. Otherwise this side is satisfied by bread, material needs, alone. And this side and its behavior are very much obvious. The other side non-material or spiritual is not satisfied by bread, material needs, alone. This side does not seek satisfaction from outside world that encompasses material and social environment. And this side is not obvious and resides in persons invisibly or secretly.

So whatever deeds we perform to get satisfaction from outside world is a matter of our material being and it will not satisfy the other side, the secrete one. Then you have to perform most righteous deeds in such a way that they are away from material and social environment but quite in your inner world which is very secrete and it should be satisfied. This inner world only can contact the supreme power the Almighty. That is why here in these verses says that the one who sees in secrete will reward you your secrete activities.

Not only that everyone has two sides, one is public, anyone can see. The other one is secrete which determine the actual personality. God look into that side which is secrete. How we are in that side, so God reward us. We can perform many things to show people and can remain as a beast, means becoming an ostentatious Christian. These verses warn against such attitude. So what important is how our secrete life.

Mathew, Chapter Six.

When we read the first two verses of chapter six from Mathew, those verses may confuse us a little bit because the verse sixteen in chapter five we read like this “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” But in this chapter verses one and two says like this,
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 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. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Here the verses warn us against practicing righteousness before other people. Are they conflict each other? Or are they different? Then what’s the difference? The fact is that they are not conflicting, nor different but two opposite poles of the same truth or opposite side of the same coin. Look, the difficulty to imbibe the truth! Jesus taught both these facts not in different speak, not in different session, but in the same one which is known as ‘The sermon on the mount’.

When we use bible to counsel people, often the people fall in vicious circle. Some time when we tell the truth, at a time we can explain only one end or one side, otherwise for the time being that side will be relevant, but the audience totally reject the other side which is indispensible and inevitable. This is happening in the life of many especially in case of leaders, enlighteners and teachers because at a time they explain the relevant pole and the other one leave unexplained. When the time comes they explain the side which they left unexplained in other occasions. The audience may think “this man doesn’t have any integrity”. But it is not the problem of leaders but the people’s who try to imbibe the truth.

In this case we can combine these both side to get the whole truth. To do so, we introspect and ask, “When do we get satisfaction after a righteous deed?” If the answer is “when others see and appreciate us” then we are practicing to be seen by others as mentioned in verse 1. If the answer is “we are satisfied because we can do one righteous activity”, then we are neither according to verse 1 of this chapter nor according to the verse 16 in chapter five. If the answer is “I satisfied because I could in line with righteous life and there by others can understand the way to God.” Then we are right we are obeying both Mathew 5:16 and Mathew 6:1-2. But in Chapter 6 the verses 3-4 specifically say that we have to do in secrete, means not in public. Yes some righteous deeds that involve material transactions like one mentioned in these verses should be secrete. That is better for the donor and receiver.

Means it’s the matter of mentality behind activities and life. The question is,” Whether our activities and lives are enlightenments for one another and others or not?”

Mathew, Chapter five continues...........4

In any circumstance a follower of Jesus mustn’t need to swear to convince anyone any matter. His ‘yes’ must be ‘yes’ and ‘no’ must be ’no’. He must be a trustworthy person who abides his words, means a person of integrity. He must not be like a ‘loincloth on line’, swaying here and there according to the direction of wind. In any circumstance he must not be away from truth. See the verses.

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

A disciple of Jesus cannot think about retaliation. There should not be the word ‘revenge’ in his dictionary. Life of follower of Jesus is life of endurance. He should put up with all hardship and persecutions because he has no right to retaliate against any offence but God. Not only so but also his manners must be amicable, even to his enemies. In behavior there should not be any kind of partiality. He should consider everyone as his own brother or sister. Verses 46-48 make clear that Bible and Jesus is against communalism because Jesus does not exhort to carry out any activities against any other people who are not his followers but to love them, even the enemies, as brothers. We will never see such a doctrine anywhere in the world. Jesus’ doctrine and activities are completely non-violence-and-endurance-oriented. Bible in general and Jesus’ teaching in particular is the need of the time, in today’s international context. See the scripture below.

Retaliation

 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,⁸  let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Love Your Enemies

 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as yours heavenly Father is perfect.

In short, those are not ready to put up with hardship or cannot lead a life of endurance cannot follow Jesus or they cannot claim as his people. Jesus’ teaching is very hard to follow, every day somebody should be along with us to train and take care without deviating from the teaching. It is not a matter of cake walk.

When we read Gospels they may discourage us. We may think who can obey these commands. That is the question of practice and answer is the ‘Epistles’. Even apostles have asked this question to Jesus. God looks into our heart and deeds to know whether we are trying to obey the doctrine with all our heart and with all our soul. If it so, even though we commit mistakes or we fall many times unintentionally, it doesn’t matter, his grace will be along with us. Means our righteousness is nothing before God and not because of our righteousness but because of his grace we justify. Apostles clarify this in their epistles. But beware; grace is not a loop hole to deviate from the doctrine.

Chapter five ends here but the Sermon on the Mount continues in chapter six and seven

Mathew Chapter five continues…3

Mathew Chapter five continues…3
Bible brings forth the truth that human means ‘man and woman’. ‘Man’ alone doesn’t make the complete sense of human, it’s only the half. In the case of ‘woman’ also it’s true. The unity of both makes the sense ‘human being’. The perpetuation of human race is not possible without this unity. So God created human as male and female as in the case of any other living beings. Otherwise human exists as pair, male and female. That’s why scripture says, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh’. The relation of man with his wife, the process of man and woman become one flesh, is sexual and it is spiritual. So as long as the spouse is faithful sexually divorce is not possible. Means, according to Jesus woman also has freedom, except the freedom we hear today - sexual freedom (man also doesn’t have that freedom). According to Bible man and woman cannot be considered as separate entities, but the opposite sides of the same coin. Without one side the other side is meaningless. So the bonding between the two is essential and it should not be broken in any ground except sexual immorality. Let us see the verses.
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

If we want to know more we have to see the verses from Mark 10: 5-9. It says, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

We can also understand some other facts from these verses. One thing the only allowable sexual practice is heterosexual. Second, neither homosexual nor bisexual practice is considered as righteous but sinful. Once a person has joined with another one in marriage, and then that persons cannot think about another sexual relation. Otherwise, if a man/woman is not satisfied with his/her spouse sexually cannot lead a spiritual life and he/she cannot belong to the Kingdom of heaven or cannot be a disciple of Jesus. So in a marriage both are responsible to satisfy each other.