Synagogues and Street Corners!

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

2 Kgs 2:1, 6-14; Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18

Today’s Gospel highlights the temptation of performing righteous deeds for human recognition. 

In this regard, while spirituality points to an internal communion with God, ‘synagogues and street corners’ symbolize human craving for vainglory. Jesus helps us distinguish between true religiosity and external display.

We must also note that Jesus does not say, ‘If you fast…’ but he says, ‘When you fast…’ Here, the issue is not if almsgiving, praying, and fasting should be done or not but why and how they should be done. This is where Jesus invites us to understand the contrast between synagogues and street corners and inner rooms. 

Jesus wants his followers to retreat into the inner room instead of standing in the synagogues and street corners, as the latter only symbolizes the craving for public recognition, turning spirituality into a means of self-promotion. Those who put on appearances in the name of religious observances only attempt to satisfy their ego rather than pleasing God.

Jesus not only talks of the inner room but also further qualifies it with the phrase ‘in secret.’ Thus, Jesus contrasts the public recognition that comes with the symbolism of synagogues and street corners with the reward from God through our inner room experience and communion with God in secret. Here, the focus is God’s love and not the crowd’s applause.

More importantly, Jesus makes a clear distinction between witnessing to the Lord and performing righteous deeds in front of others. We need to understand that Jesus is not condemning every public display of our faith. After all, it is he who said, ‘Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven’ (Mt 5:16). If so, how do we make the difference between witnessing to the Lord and performing righteous deeds in public? The answer lies in intention. When we witness to the Lord in a public forum, the intention is to glorify God. Whereas parading our righteousness in public only amounts to advertising ourselves in an act of self-exaltation.

As he concludes, Jesus wants us to ask ourselves, ‘Do people notice me or God through me in anything I do?’ Thus, Jesus wants us to grow in holiness by building intimacy with God rather than desiring the cheap popularity that brings admiration from our fellow humans because our justification comes from God.

We need to move from the synagogues and street corners to the inner room to commune with God in secret. In this regard, where we stand spiritually, not physically, matters. 

Let us pray that we may shed the temptation of public spaces and enter into the inner rooms of ourselves to give glory to God.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar