We should talk about it more.
Counterfeit knowing is a scam we've all fallen for more than once.
Being known, first of all, starts with being seen.
My knowing started with my seeing it in Matthew 6, when Jesus is teaching His disciples and He keeps offering up these warnings about counterfeit spiritual disciplines, performed by hypocrites, the pretenders:
Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.
The hypocrites make a scene when they're doing something good, that they may have glory from men.
And prayer? Well that too is done on street corners and in public places, that they may be seen by men.
Fasting, as you might expect, follows the same pattern - for pretenders, it is showy and needy (sad countenances, disfigured faces) that they may appear to men to be fasting.
We church people are quick to shake our heads and marvel at the pretense of these hypocrites (read:Jewish church people) and miss it...the motives that drove the acting are not as sinister as we might like to believe. In fact, the motives are so basic it's frightening.
The hypocrites wanted to be seen, wanted to be known, wanted glory and honor and likes and retweets and popular blogs and pats on the back and they longed for the perception attached to their lives, their spirituality, to be that they had it all together.
It's cheap and vacant, this knowing we get from a spiritual performance. They have their reward in full, Jesus said. That's why we're always coming up empty - needing an ever-widening audience for our showcase.
Where Jesus takes them - and us - following these warnings seems a bit random. He addresses wealth...and worry. He brings up birds and flowers. Why does this matter?
We should talk about it more.
You know that need to be seen?
I keep the birds of the air under My eye. You're worth much more to Me than they are. I see you.
That longing to be recognized?
I know what you need - your care is important to Me. I delight in dressing the flowers of the field, clothing them in temporal glory. Will I not do much more for you than that? I know you.
The drive for validation?
I see what you offer to Me in secret and I will reward you openly. I care for you.
What if the great misstep of the pretenders is not the longing to be seen, known and cared for, but the source in which they seek to satisfy that longing?
Why does this passage sound less and less like a monster under the bed and more and more like the person I might encounter in the mirror?
We should talk about it more.
The theology of being known is beautiful and liberating and authentic. Don't fall for the counterfeit; go straight to the Source.