I have been reading Theatrical Shows and Ascetic Lives: John Chrysostom’s Attack on Spiritual Marriage by Blake Leyerle. I am planning on blogging more on the book when I finish reading the book, but I wanted to share one quote from it:
“The description of interactions between rich and poor show that philanthropy in late antiquity was concerned less with the welfare of the destitute than with the desire of the moneyed to publicize their social standing. Chysostom insists, to the contrary, that true charity is the antithesis of theater. Money is to be spent on the poor rather than on the games, the theater, or personal adornment; almsgiving itself must not be made into another forum for display. The poor are not to showcase their misery; nor the wealthy to be ostentatious in their benefaction.” (p. 58)
The book shares many insights from the fourth century about Chrysostom’s hatred of theater, but it seems to speak to our day as well.
Yesterday, I was watching the infamous Donnie Brasco
The finally line, from his wife, stays with him:
“It’s over Jim (his real name is Jim Pistone),” she says. “We can go home.”
Such jobs like the undercover job underlies the problem that Leyerle highlights above. We often wear masks to get into certain situations (often we do not even realize that we are wearing the mask). For Donnie it was easy to see because his two worlds were easily definable. For the follower of Christ, we have to consider again and again what our motives our and how to best live as ourselves in this world.
Are we helping the poor to help the poor, or so we can talk about it on Sunday morning?
Danny is a part time substitute teacher and a part time In-N-Out employee looking for some kind of teaching job in California. Hopefully someday the state of California will be back in action and ready to rock and roll and hire teachers back. He enjoys long walks on the beach and Star Wars.