Why Do We Do What We Do?

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Scripture: Matthew 6:1 – 18

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Read more…

Looking to Sunday

by Elaine Poproski

How do you know a thing exists?

That’s the kind of question I imagine philosophers love to think about. The rest of us likely can’t imagine a more ridiculous question. Of course things exist! But do they?

Back some 300 years ago, there was a man named George Berkeley who suggested that material things don’t exist. In super simplified terms that do no justice to the complexity and nuance of thought philosophers are known for, what Berkeley proposed was that material things are defined as those things or substances “whose existence is not dependent on thinking/perceiving.”[1] In other words, something can only be classified as existing if it exists apart from being thought of or perceived. Consider this question: Can you think of a tree that isn’t being thought of? Of course not. What an absurd question. But if you can’t think of a thing that isn’t being thought of, then you can’t claim that the thing exists. It’s possible that the only thing that exists is your mental image of it.[2]

Berkeley asked the question: If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around, does it make a sound? His answer was simple: When there’s no one around, there’s no tree to fall over.

If you’re anything like me, the whole thing sounds ridiculous. Of course things exist! But then, I’m not a philosopher.

I’m reading Matthew 6:1 – 18, which is our text on Sunday and it’s making me question whether I or we really do believe things exist if no one is around to see or feel or hear or touch or think about them. In this part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls out those who call attention to themselves when they give donations or pray or fast. He accuses them of doing what they’re doing because they want to be seen by others as being great or pious or generous. He calls them hypocrites. We don’t want to be hypocrites. But I wonder if it’s possible that sometimes we want to be seen doing these things because we worry that our piety or our righteousness or our generosity only exists if it’s seen.

I may be overthinking this. I do that sometimes. Especially near the beginning of the week when I’m only beginning to think deeply about the week’s text and sermon. When you read these 18 verses, what thoughts or questions do they raise in you? Is there anything that strikes you as strange? Is there anything that jumps out at you or makes you think in a way you haven’t thought before? As you prepare for Sunday, perhaps spend some time with these verses. What is it that God wants you to hear this week? Where are you in these words?

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[1] Lisa Downing. “George Berkeley.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Fall 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/ (accessed Feb. 19, 2023).

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzKTqlsZFjM