public failure, hidden success
"Everything they do is done for people to see."
Jesus, critiquing the Pharisees
Several weeks ago, I gave a sermon on The Secret Place.
For whatever reason, it got disproportionate feedback. The central idea was this: "Society thinks we do our best work in public; God thinks we do our best work in private." I think it hit the sciatic nerve of performance fatigue we all feel.
There is a relentless pressure to live public lives. Lives that are seen, lives of high visibility, lives that are applauded. We all know the psychology of "likes" on social media, but it can be a real challenge to break free from them. Real talk - how many times do you open social media simply to see how many views you have, not to watch more content? The answer, by the way, is on average a staggering 151 times a day.
Jesus warned about the addiction of being seen. It was one of the corrupting forces of Pharisaical religion.
"Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others."
Loving the place of honor.
The most important seats.
Greeted with respect.
Seen. Noticed. Loved.
This is the life Jesus warns us about. This is the life he calls us to reject.
Contrary to this, Jesus gives us a vision of a life lived before God. It’s a hidden life, withdrawing from human eyes to be seen by our Father. In Matthew 6, he says:
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Public praise verses private affirmation. This is one of the keys to the kingdom. We all know this, but do we orient our lives around it? It’s one thing to agree, another to change the rhythms of your life to embody it.
One of the desert fathers, Abba Paphnutius, wanted to know how God viewed humanity. As he was dying, he asked God to show him if there were still any saints living on the earth. God answered him with a vision of three holy men: a humble village headman, a powerful merchant, and a reformed robber. Abba Paphnutius was shaken and reported to his fellow monks, "No one in this world ought to be despised, for in every condition of human life there are souls that please God and have their hidden deeds wherein He takes delight."
Men celebrate public accomplishments. God celebrates private devotion. Saints can be found in every vocation, for their lives are not defined by what they do but who they love. The public place may make us feel significant, but it’s rarely where we are formed. In fact, the public place reveals our formation. The reason so many people have public failures is because they have private deficits. They haven’t built secret reserves to handle the weight of public life. They collapse under the weight of influence, because they don’t have a foundation of character to sustain it.
In his film of heartbreaking beauty, A Hidden Life, Terrence Malick tells the life of Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer committed to resisting the Nazis in a small, obscure village during WW2. It’s a simple story of a godly man with deep convictions, refusing to compromise in public because of private convictions. In one powerful scene, a Nazi officer is telling him to give in, swear allegiance to Hitler, and get on with his life.
He warns Franz, "Do you imagine that anything you do will change the course of this war? That anyone outside this court will ever hear of you? No one will be changed. The world will go on as before. You'll vanish."
Franz replies: "A man worth anything has only one thing to consider: whether he is acting rightly or wrongly."
Franz lived his life before God, a life of devotion and faithfulness in a way that confronted the broken value system of his world. It’s a life that shows us that what we call success is mere vanity, a chasing after the wind, and that true life is found in the secret place. The title of the film was based on a quote from Middlemarch by George Elliot:
"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
But the German officer was wrong. Though unknown to the world, Franz was known to God and his people. He was later declared a martyr and beatified by the Catholic Church.
Dramatic events may get all the attention, but devoted lives usher in God’s kingdom. It’s normal men like you and me, living before God, content to be faithful in the small things that bring the world out of brokenness and into redemptive love. Unhistoric acts create the world we actually need.
It’s the hidden life of playing with your kids when you are tired and have nothing left in the tank that the Father loves.
It’s the hidden life of serving your wife when she is exhausted and overwhelmed that the Father loves.
It’s the hidden life of prayer and devotion when you want to watch the game that the Father loves.
It’s the hidden life of sacrificial generosity when you would rather buy another gadget that the Father loves.
It’s the hidden life of absorbing criticism without the need to respond that the Father loves.
Let’s resolve to be men who live from the secret place. Men like Jesus who "often" withdraw to spend time with the Father. Men known by God, seen in heaven, who seek our reward in the places the world can never find.
May God give you a small and unnoticed week, filled with unhistoric acts that fill your world with beauty and love.
Cheers.
Jon.
