acts of righteousness

Matthew 6:1

Jesus ties "acts of righteousness" to rewards in heaven. The key phrase is not "in front of others" but "to be seen by them." Jesus is not saying that we need to make sure that no one every sees us do an act of righteousness but that our motive is to please God and not to be seen or applauded by others. Too many people have interpretted this to mean that they should never pray in public, that no one should ever know how much they give to charity (although they are most happy to record it on their income tax form), that no one should ever see them perform an "act of righteousness." We need to understand this in the context of the audience to whom Jesus is talking. The would have understood that Jesus was pointing to over the top religious displays. This becomes clear when we get to the passagea about giving: don't announce it with trumpets, don't offer your whole tithe in pennies so that it makes a nice, long clanging sound as it enters the collection box. It is about motive, not about whether or not someone sees us. In fact, I think there is a time to do our "acts of righteousness in public" if it would disciple someone in the spiritual disciplines. If our youth and children never see us practice our faith, how will they every understand how important it is? However, our motive must never be about gaining praise for ourselves but bringing praise to God.
This ties into the previous chapter in that Jesus is again attacking the religiousity of the Jewish system. In the previous chapter, Jesus made it clear that keeping the Law was about the heart and spirit of the Law and not just a strict understanding of the letter of the Law. In this chapter, Jesus makes it clear that it is not enough just to practice religion in order to be seen as religious by others but to pursue God in such a way that we will be rewarded by God and not by other humans.
In essence, this is Jesus' thesis statement for the next section of his sermon. In my translation, acts of righteousness has quotations around it. I wonder if Jesus is being a bit sarcastic here. I wonder if he is saying, "You think your religious acts indicate your righteousness. They don't. True righteousness is... (he explains that in the previous chapter and the rest of this one)." I know that there are times when I go to church or serve the poor or pray or give as an "act of righteousness." I don't even think the motive of pleasing God is the right one. It means that I think that I can somehow earn God's favour by my religious acts. This is the mark of every religion. I think my motive for going to church should be to celebrate a relationship with God that means I don't have to go to church to please him. I think my motive for reading the Bible is to get to know the God who tells me I don't have to read the Bible to please him. I think my motive for doing anything should be love for my Father and my Saviour. The only act of righteousness that pleased God was Jesus. Only as I put myself in him and let him put himself in me will I be pleasing to God.