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Jesus on Prayer, Part 1
Our series on prayer began last week by focusing on the Lord’s Prayer. This week we will be looking at several passages from the gospels where Jesus teaches about prayer. Today we start with a look at Matthew 6:5-8. Take some time to read the passage slowly and carefully, jotting down any thoughts or questions you have. Then continue on to read the rest of this post and do the prayer exercise at the end.
Praying to be seen
Jesus teaches us not to pray “like the hypocrites,” who love to pray in public spaces, not because they love God but because they love the commendation they receive from others when they do so. The word “hypocrite” is simply what we would call an “actor” today: people who are pretending to be someone else. The hypocrites are those who are pretending to pray, but really they are simply seeking the recognition of other people. “They have received their reward,” Jesus says. In other words, their prayers had nothing to do with God, so God stayed out of the way. The purpose of their project was getting the attention of other people. That which they sought, they got: attention from others. It had nothing to do with God, so God didn’t involve himself where he wasn’t invited or wanted.Instead, Jesus tells us, we are to go to our rooms and close the door and pray to our Father, who sees what is done in secret and will reward us. The point is not that public prayer ought never to occur. This would outlaw any kind of corporate prayer. The point is that we ought to simply and honestly bring our concerns and petitions to God, without giving much thought to how we appear to others. When we pray in this way, Jesus tells us we can expect a reward from our Father.
Praying to accumulate merit
So we are not to pray like hypocrites. Jesus also teaches not to pray like “pagans,” people who “keep on babbling” because they think if they shout loud enough or stay fervent enough that the gods might answer because they are impressed with their desperation. These are people who are worried that unless they continually present the “shopping list” to God, he’s going to forget what their needs are. Jesus tells us quite clearly, “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Ours is not a god who is far-off and uninterested, like a father who’d rather read the newspaper and watch TV than engage with his family. The God we call Father is absolutely good, absolutely able, and absolutely wise to carry out his purposes and provide for our needs.Prayer exercise
Set aside a good 20-30 minutes for this exercise. In this short passage Jesus is teaching that the basis of our prayer life needs to be a confidence that God is an interested, caring Father. Many of us struggle to really live in the constant awareness that God sees us, knows our needs, and longs to meet them. In order to take this from an abstract concept into a concrete belief, we’re going to riff off Psalm 136.Psalm 136 starts with a general call to give thanks to the Lord, because his love never quits. It then goes into some very specific events in the life of Israel, always echoed by the refrain, “His love never quits!” You’re going to write your own personal Psalm 136:
- First draw a graph of your life. The horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is how close you felt to God, or how well you felt your life was going. Think of significant events, both good and bad, and trace a path of your life.
- Now think of the significant moments those points on the graph represent, and begin writing your Psalm, using the words below as the general pattern.
I thank you, High God
Because your love never quits.
Your love has been with me
From the moment of my conception until now.When I first said ‘yes’ to you as a child, naïve and trusting,
Your love was there.
When I spent years in apathy and wanting to fit in
Your love was there.
When I first gave you my whole life, laid everything down,
Your love was there.…etc…
And now as you’re bringing me into an unknown future,
Your love is here.- Simply pray your Psalm back to God and rest in his love.