They receive their reward
Ash Wednesday
Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6,16-18
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030525.cfm
The news today is quite fascinating. We have articles about people’s tweets and posts on social media and the responses others make to it. We have short videos and commentary videos. We have impressions and mimicked dance moves. We are flooded with staged images and information intended to get a reaction. The more of a reaction, the more attention the poster of the information receives. The views, the likes, the thumbs-up, thumbs-down, etc. It’s all a stage to seek and receive both good and bad attention.
One can quickly become a celebrity and gain power in the public sphere by how well they navigate this world of attention. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it's good or bad, it’s a matter of how much. Some seek positive reactions, some take great pleasure in trolling to receive negative reactions, and others seek both. It gives a sense of being seen or being important. Some folks in the political arena have gotten very good at it too and seem to be driven by the level of reaction regardless. The stronger a reaction means I’m doing something right, right?
Today’s gospel shows that the temple of Jesus’s time was a public forum like we experience in social media today. People throughout history have liked to put on airs. Somehow it makes folks feel validated and/or better than others. We are all wanting to be seen or perceived a certain way or to fit a certain image, but in reality, some days are going to be better than others. Some days, we’re going to perform better than others. Some days are going to be more challenging than others. And sometimes we are going to make mistakes. In fighting to maintain an image and/or get a reaction we can lose who we truly are.
Our need for attention makes us something that we truly aren’t and we are left with cognitive dissonance. We can lose ourselves for how we want to appear than truly being who we are. If we aren’t fully who we are, then what are we? If we are created in the image and likeness of God, why would we want anything else? To be attention seeking is not what God wants from us. God wants us to love who we genuinely are. God wants us to be who we are, not how we’d like to be perceived.
