Paid in Full
"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."
Matthew 6:2
There is a single word in this verse that should stop us cold. The word is “received.” In the Greek, this is a commercial term, the language of a paid receipt. Leon Morris and Robert Mounce both observe that it carries the force of “paid in full,” the kind of phrase that closes a transaction. The hypocrite organized his generosity to produce human applause. He got exactly what he wanted. The transaction is finished. There is no heavenly balance still owed to him, because the audience he chose has already paid him in full.
This is far more serious than we usually realize. Jesus is not saying the hypocrite has a smaller reward. He is saying the hypocrite has the wrong reward. He aimed at human approval and he got it, every last bit of it. There will be nothing more. R.T. France notes that the irony is sharp. The praise of the synagogue or the street was the entire payment. The receipt has been stamped. The store will not honor any further claim.
Hypocrite is another theater word. It originally referred to an actor wearing a mask. The diagnosis is not that the giver is doing the wrong thing. He is giving to the poor, which is good. He is giving in the synagogue, which is appropriate. The diagnosis is that he is wearing a mask, performing devotion rather than expressing it. The audience he is playing to cannot finally satisfy him, because no human applause can fill a soul made for the eyes of God.
Today's Challenge
Where in your spiritual life have you traded the unseen reward of the Father for a smaller, faster reward you already know how to obtain from people? Is there a recent act of giving or service where the applause you received, in person, online, or in your own thoughts, was actually the whole payment?
Prayer
Father, I do not want a paid in full transaction with the wrong audience. I want the reward only you can give. Forgive me for the masks I have worn, even in the name of devotion. Teach me to see human applause for what it is, a payment too small for a soul made to delight in you. In Jesus' name, Amen.
