The Sermon On The MountExemple

Set at the centre and heart of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) is Jesus’s teaching on prayer. The location of the Lord’s prayer in the architectural structure of the Sermon is itself striking. In the Sermon, the number of lines and verses preceding and succeeding the Lord’s Prayer are almost identical. This is itself is a suggestion that prayer lies at the heart of righteousness; that godliness lies at the heart of holiness; that right relationship with God lies at the heart of right relationship with others.

There are a number of preliminary teachings about prayer that Jesus gives in Matthew 6, before he gives his disciples the model prayer. To begin with, prayer must be secret. When we pray, Jesus says, we must not be like the hypocrites who love to pray in public in order to be seen and admired by all. If we do that, we will get exactly what we’re looking for – the recognition of men. But no more – certainly not the recognition of God. Instead, when we pray, we must go into the secret counsel of God, both physically and spiritually. It is in the secret place of life where God can be found. We are thus taught by Jesus to seek the privacy of prayer more than the publicity of prayer.

For Jesus, prayer must be sincere. When we pray, it is not people who we’re trying to impress, it is God to whom we’re trying to express. This also means that prayer must be simple. Jesus tells us that we must not use complex and impressive language in prayer. God understands our simple language. He says, do not heap up empty phrases and use heavy language like the Gentiles do. The simplicity in prayer is marked by the sensibility of prayer. Do not use, Jesus says, empty meaningless words, phrases, and sentences.

Jesus also says that Gentiles think that God will hear them for their “many words,” and that we should not be like them. In other words, prayer can be short. God does not hear prayers because we pray long and lengthy prayers. Our life of prayer is not measured by the length of our prayer. In sum, prayer must be secret, sincere, simple, sensible, and short.