Sermons
June 28, 2026 (Proper 8)
“We’re Gonna Pray Now!”
Matthew 6:1-18
The Sermon on the Mount, as it’s presented in Matthew chapters 5 through 7, is pretty loosely organized. There’s a lot in there, too. We’re spending the summer in these three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, and we will barely scratch the surface of it.
Today’s portion of chapter 6 covers several topics, each of which could be a sermon on its own. But the whole reading is governed by the first sentence: “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” In other words, when you are working on your spiritual disciplines, what’s in your heart and mind?
We’ve seen in the last few readings that Jesus is primarily concerned with our hearts, because he believes right behavior flows out of a heart that is in the right place. That’s the case here, too.
The question we need to consider is, When we pray, or fast, or give to the needy, are we doing it to put on a show and have other people see us and exclaim over how wonderfully pious and generous we are? Or are we seeking to deepen our relationship with God, who is the only one whose opinion of us, ultimately, counts?
When I was growing up in the Baptist church, we were all expected to learn how to pray in public. We took turns praying to open and close our Sunday school classes and youth group meetings. We did learn the Lord’s Prayer in Sunday school, but unlike our usual practice here, the congregation did not say it together during Sunday worship.
That is because we were also taught that we should never pray using someone else’s words—even Jesus’. The idea of saying together the Prayer of St. Francis, which was on the front cover of my ordination bulletin 26 years ago this week, or having the deacons who prayed at the Communion table find suitable prayers in books from the church library, would have been unthinkable. Some people would even give side-eye to a deacon who wrote his[1] own prayer ahead of time and then reading it at the table. We were taught that this is what Jesus says in this passage that we are not to do.
(To our shame, we also believed Catholics and other Christians who continue to repeat a substantial treasury of prayers from Christians throughout history were Doing It Wrong.)
I wonder, though, if this is really what Jesus was saying to us.
Of course I see great value in every Christian learning how to pray aloud in groups, and whenever I lead a group of kids or adults, I invite members to take turns praying at various times. But I don’t think Jesus was teaching us that we must never pray anything but our own words made up on the spot (although he certainly would not have told us not to pray in our own words, either). After all, Jesus was an observant Jew, and observant Jews to this day pray several times a day, nearly always including a special prayer from Deuteronomy known as the Shema:
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”[2]
The prayer goes on from there—but you should recognize that part of this prayer is what Jesus (along with other rabbis of his day) said were the first and greatest of the commandments.
The Jewish people, like Catholic Christians, have a great number of traditional prayers that are said at specific times and places—such as the Mourners’ Kaddish, which family and friends say regularly following the death of a loved one. So I don’t think Jesus would teach that his followers must never pray using someone else’s words. That would not have been his main concern.
Instead, he told his followers not to put on a show when we pray—or when we give to the needy, or when we fast. Did he mean we must never pray in public, or give an offering during Sunday worship, or bring our items for our monthly outreach project?
Of course not.
I’m pretty sure what he means is that if you’re praying or giving or fasting to be seen praying or giving or fasting, if our prayer isn’t a prayer to God but a mini-sermon to someone else who is listening—we preachers aren’t exactly immune to this—then we might need to reconsider our practices. He also said not to heap up empty phrases (or, as the King James Bible said, “use not vain repetitions”), as though saying a bunch of special words we don’t use elsewhere is necessary to get God’s attention.[3]
The reason we don’t need to do these things is because of the intimate relationship Jesus envisions us having with our God—the sort of relationship a beloved child has with a loving parent, who knows us well, understands our needs even before we do, and can recognize the longings of our hearts even if we cannot articulate them in words. Therefore, there’s no need to put on a show or fill the air with magic words. We don’t have a God who needs to be appeased with such things.
Instead, we have a God we can call “Father,” who loves us and cares for us more perfectly than even the best and most loving earthly parent can do, who knows what we need before we ever ask for it; and is always ready to give us our daily bread, and abundant forgiveness and chances to make a fresh start when we’ve done wrong.[4]
[1] Until I was in high school, in the 1980s, our deacons were all male. Our youth group leader, Magada Craven, was the first female deacon in our church; and on her first Sunday serving, the vice-moderator of the church refused to pass the Communion trays to her. Not to be deterred, Magada took hold of them and pulled them from his hands.
[2] The Shema is based on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and Numbers 15:37-41.
[3] This isn’t necessarily a condemnation of repetitive practices such as saying the Rosary, which, when done properly, is more a way of giving the conscious mind something to keep it occupied while the deeper mind and heart commune with God…unless those practices become an end unto themselves and thus meaningless.
[4] We will look at the Lord’s Prayer in greater depth next week.