Contemplation #253
Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. Matthew 6:1

After this instruction Jesus mentions giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting. These are acts out of righteousness rather than acts which bring or earn righteousness. If anyone wants to imagine what righteousness means, it certainly includes these practices. Giving to the needy, prayer, and fasting are tied together in the Christian tradition of Lent. First, we must be careful to truly do our acts of righteousness and to not neglect the very daily works that God's righteousness in us calls us to do. Let us be careful to do them as well as heeding Jesus' warning about how not to do these good works.

Contemplation #254
Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. Matthew 6:1

The warning to not do our good works before men should make us think of the One before whom they should be done. Again, as Jesus assumes we will be doing these practical expressions of of the righteousness of God, he assumes that we know to do them unto God. To be blind to human praise or ridicule, and to care only for the will of God, this is walking in faith. We must free ourselves from dependency on the judgments of others. God's righteousness is a gift that he gives for our benefit and we respond readily to it when we allow that righteousness to work in and through us, for only the pleasure of the One who gave it.

Contemplation #255
Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. Matthew 6:1

The 'men' here are not all people, but only the select group in whose eyes one wants to be exalted. There may be many whose opinion matters little to us, but others who we allow to have power over us. This may differ from person to person. Perhaps it is one's peers, or one's family. It might even be the poor and needy, that we desire to be elevated in their eyes. We need to be particularly aware of those before whom we would like to be honored. Acts of righteousness must be founded in humility and selfless devotion to God. The desire to be 'seen' is a form of devotion to ourselves, rather than to God.

Contemplation #250
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" Luke 13:23

We can only guess at the intent of the questioner in this account. Better yet, we should reflect on how we might pose this question. Do we ask despairingly, afraid that only few will be saved and we might not be among them? Do we ask hopefully, wanting there to be only few so that all those evil people, unlike us, will receive their due and our righteousness will be affirmed? Do we ask in full confidence of our own reception of grace, and longing for such to be the blessing of many others? To hope for universal salvation is to share in the hope of God, who is not willing that any should perish. To be like God, must hope for all to be covered in grace and none to be excluded, though only God will make that choice.

Contemplation #251
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" Luke 13:23

Jesus seldom seems to feel compelled to answer the question that is asked. He responds truthfully despite the assumptions of the questioner. Here, if you read verses 24-30, you see that Jesus never answers the question of how many will be saved. He does say that many will try to enter incorrectly, leading us to think perhaps the answer is "few will be saved". But then he counters that people will come from all points of the compass, which leads us to think that many will be saved. In fact, instead of giving a number, Jesus' response to the question is that those who will be saved are not those whom the questioner expects. Instead of thinking about numbers, Jesus calls us to the inverted "last will be first" thinking about the Kingdom of God.

Contemplation #252
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" Luke 13:23

By ignoring the question of "How many will be saved" Jesus would have us turn from such unprofitable speculation. He draws us instead to see the surprising way that God works. Grace is astonishingly improbable, by it's very nature. Grace is unpredictable because it is extended to where goodness and blessing ought not to go. Despite well-meaning people who have tried to delineate exactly where God's grace will be given and to whom it will not, such restriction would rob grace of being grace. Paul said that though he was the worst of sinners, yet he was shown grace. Grace will always make the last first, and salvation will appear where we least expect it. Let us see ourselves as recipients of unexpected grace.