Sermon on the Mount: Prayer

Matthew 6:5-14 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

In this section, Jesus is talking about prayer. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life, but for many people, it is very misunderstood. So, let’s jump into it.

First, let’s give a really simple definition of prayer. Prayer is communication between you and Jesus. It is a conversation. It involves both speaking and listening. It’s not some magical incantation or prescribed set of words to elicit God’s good will. Just like communication is essential to any human relationship, prayer is essential to your relationship with God.

The first part of this section is very similar to the last section on charity and the next section on fasting in that it expects that you will be praying and it is saying that prayer should not be some big display and presentation. Jesus goes so far as to say that those people who loudly and publicly pray, in churches, in public, etc… are hypocrites.

Just so we are all on the same page, a hypocrite is “a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion or a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings” It’s that first one that we are looking at here, someone who “who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion” 

Now here’s the thing, Jesus isn’t saying that if you pray in a public arena or are heard by other people that that automatically makes you a hypocrite. What He is addressing here are people who have self-imposed virtue based on how pious they are and how eloquently they pray and how often they pray. There were people in Jesus’ time, just as there are now, who were “holier than though” and took great pride in their religiosity. Their prayers weren’t genuine. They weren’t really trying to communicate with God, to seek deeper relationship, to gain direction or wisdom or to bring needs and concerns to Him. They were putting on a show to ensure that everyone around saw them and thought great things about them. It was a pride and power play. This is what Jesus is warning against, not public prayer, but disingenuous prayer.

He specifically calls out this sort of behavior in Mark 12:38-40: “And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

When prayer is true and humble it doesn’t need to be public and a performance. Just as it is uncommon to have deep meaningful conversations with your friend/family/significant other in front of an audience, our deepest and most meaningful prayers should be more private, something between you and Jesus.

The second section here is much the same, it is just specifically addressing long, elaborate, ornate prayers that are long, elaborate and ornate just because. There is often a thought that prayer needs to be elaborate or that there are specific words you have to say in a specific order. I don’t know how many times I’ve had someone tell me “I don’t know how to pray.” It’s not like that though. Do you know how to talk? Do you know how to communicate? Then you know how to pray. That’s all it is. Now, again, this doesn’t mean that prayer is always a 20 second thing. In fact, it is not uncommon for people to spend hours in prayer, just as it isn’t uncommon to spend hours on the phone, or hanging out with, or texting your friends or significant other. The thing about it is that it is more about quality than quantity. You don’t earn brownie points with God by saying a lot of flowery Old English words for five minutes. Jesus calls these empty phrases. I’m sure you’ve probably been in a conversation with someone before that lasted way too long, and in the end, the other person (or you) didn’t really say anything. It was all fluff. That sort of conversation, or prayer, is sorta useless, and a bit annoying. God doesn’t want that sort of communication with you.

On the contrary, we are instructed to be praying continuously.

Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing”

Again, this is not a nonstop recitation of religious words, but a continual conversation, before you go to bed at night, when you’re lying awake in the middle of the night, when you wake up the morning, while you’re taking a shower, when you’re spacing out during class, while you’re bored on a Saturday afternoon, when something really cool happens, when something really scary happens, anytime that you would think to grab your phone and text your friends or post on TikTok or Snapchat and even more, that’s as much as God wants you to talk to Him, to pray. It’s not about chunks of polished and perfect prayers, but a constant conversation.

The last thing that Jesus says before He gives a model prayer is “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Prayer is not the only way that God has an inkling into our lives, our hopes and dreams and wishes and desires, our fears and failures and hurts and anxieties. God knows all of it, every aspect of our lives at all time. He doesn’t need us to tell Him. It’s not like He’s in the dark until we reveal certain things to Him. Prayer is essential, not because God needs intel or validation or permission or anything like that, but it is essential because He loves you, deeply and intimately. He loves you and wants to have a relationship with you, and not just a religious relationship. He wants you to love Him as well.

Relationship, love, is built on, and flourishes with, communication. Therefore, Jesus wants you to pray so that you can grow closer to Him.

So, this week. I would challenge you to pray. That may sound simple or scary, but I would challenge you to look at it just like we’ve talked about. Just talk to God, but also listen. The next section in Matthew gives a blueprint or outline for the sort of things that should be included in prayer. It’s not a script, but it can help give an idea of the sort of things to talk to God about if you’re unsure.