“Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever 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.
7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy.
10 May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” Matthew 6:1-18.
Verse 1 is a kind of introduction to the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus discusses the three pillars of Jewish piety: almsgiving, prayer, and fasting (see Tobit 12:8–10). Jesus takes it for granted that His disciples will engage in these practices (“Whenever you give alms…”; “Whenever you pray…”; “Whenever you fast…”) and is concerned about their motives and manner in which they do them. He warns them not to do good deeds to be noticed. If you give alms, pray, or fast in order to gain praise from others, you will have no reward from your heavenly Father. Jesus doesn’t want them to draw attention to themselves, as others do. The point is this: Disciples who seek attention for themselves are not faithful disciples, for they do not want God alone to be glorified. When teaching about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, Jesus warns the disciples not to perform these practices “as the hypocrites do” (6:2, 5, 16). The hypocrite is Matthew’s usual reference to the scribes and Pharisees.
Alms are gifts for the poor, and giving alms was an important religious responsibility for the Jews (Deut. 15:11). Jesus warns that when giving alms, one should not blow a trumpet — a metaphor for sure depicting the kind of attention-seeking that should be avoided when giving to the poor.
It’s worth noting that the Greek word translated “hypocrite” means a”actor” or “pretender.” The hypocrite who gives alms in order to be recognized is not really giving to the poor.
When it comes to prayer, Jesus first warns his disciples not to pray like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners. Again, Jesus criticizes the motive that hypocrites bring to public prayer. Instead of purely loving God in prayer, they love to pray in public so that others may see them. Jesus’ wishes to pray in an inner room behind a closed door is hyperbole expressing how disciples should offer their prayer for God alone — not for a human audience.
He condemns the babbling prayer of the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. He is not criticizing persistence in prayer (see 7:7–11) or repetition, which is biblical and pleasing to God
(Dan. 3:52–68; Ps. 136; Rev. 4:8). Jesus wants us to trust that God will fulfill all our needs: Your Father knows what you need before you ask him (6:9).
Jesus offers a model for prayer that has come to be known as the Lord’s Prayer (6:9–13). This prayer—the pivotal center of the Sermon on the Mount—is structured according to seven petitions. Significantly, the first three petitions focus on God alone. The final four petitions concern ourselves.
More than anything else, I want you to remember that the pattern of the Lord’s Prayer must be the pattern of all our prayer, which especially means that our prayer should begin by giving God His proper place, and then we must take our life’s past, present, and future to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
OUR FATHER calls us to remember that God the Father is OUR Father.
He is everybody’s Father, which means we are all His children.
OUR FATHER assures us that we are all children of God in the family of God.
The word FATHER can mean paternity, which means God OUR FATHER is responsible for our birth.
But the word FATHER also means fatherhood, which describes a relationship of love and intimacy and confidence and trust between the father and the child.
When we pray to God, Our Father, we mean less that He is just responsible for our birth, our life, but much more that He is Our Father who has a relationship of love and intimacy and confidence and trust between the Himself and each of us and all of us.
When we pray to OUR FATHER we pray to God who did not just create us but who relates to us in His fatherhood of love and intimacy and confidence and trust between the Himself and each of us and all of us.
The fatherhood of God assures us of the nearness of God.
The fatherhood of God assures us of the mercy of God.
The fatherhood of God involves the loving obedience of each of us.
The fatherhood of God obliges us to love others as the family of God.
So today, pray the Lord’s Prayer slowly and deliberately and thoughtfully.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
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