Photobombing God.
I woke up this morning with this concept of photo-bombing God in my head and it seems to be appropriate for today’s Gospel reading. You may be familiar with this practice of getting into someone else’s picture. Right before someone is ready to have a picture of themselves taken, it has become a common practice for someone who was not intended to be in the picture to all of a sudden stick their head in front of or behind the person who was intended to be in the picture. The end result is that someone ends up in the picture who was never intended to be in the picture.
Do you know of anyone like this where no matter what is going on, it has to be all about them all the time? Maybe it’s a family member, maybe it’s a co-worker, maybe it’s a friend, maybe Bill and Malinda Gates or Warren Buffet come to mind with all the attention they get for their generous giving or if we’re honest with ourselves, maybe all too often, it’s us.
In today’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus telling his disciples, “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them.” When we are giving to those in need, when we pray and when we fast, these are times in our lives when God alone is supposed to be in the picture. These are times when it is not supposed to be all about us. These are times when it is supposed to be all about God alone being in the picture that others see and that we see when we look at these experiences. We are meant to be invisible in these moments of giving alms, praying and fasting so that God may become visible in these moments to others and to ourselves. These are the moments that our lives are meant to mirror God. So when we’re struggling with vanity or when our chests are puffing up with pride due to an inflated ego, let us hit the pause button in our lives and say one of the following two simple prayers, “God, may my life mirror you.” Another good simple prayer to say in these moments is, “God, may I become invisible, so you may be made visible.” Then the next time we are tempted to pick up our phones or cameras to take a selfie of us doing something good for others, or when we are praying or fasting, let us flip the camera around and point it to the heavens so God alone may be in the picture. Let our desires to be known as someone who is generous, pious and self-sacrificial evaporate and be made invisible so that our desire to have God be made known in and through our lives may become visible. May God receive the glory through our lives. When a snapshot is taken of our lives, may God alone be who is seen in the picture.
June 20, 2018, Year B 11th Wednesday of Ordinary Time Photobombing God