When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly

 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

"Therefore, do you not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with  sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."

- Matthew 6:1-16

We've been reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  We began with the Beatitudes, the blessings of the Kingdom.  Then Jesus taught about true righteousness for His disciples, the fulfillment of the Law.  He then spoke of the statute against murder, and the righteousness of His fulfillment, and about the Law and divorce, the inner workings of covetousness, and personal integrity.   In yesterday's reading, He taught, "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'   But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.  If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.  And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.  Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them.  Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.  Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."  We begin chapter 6 as Jesus continues the Sermon on the Mount.  Having taught about the righteousness of the Kingdom and the Law, in this chapter He speaks about three traditional aspects of spiritual life:  charitable giving, prayer, and fasting.  Here, He uses the word hypocrite to express His emphasis on the deeper aspects of these practices.  Hypocrite originally meant "actor" in the Greek; it literally means "under a mask," as in the ancient theater.  My study bible says that hypocrites are play-actors practicing piety for show, desiring to please other people rather than God.  They may outwardly wear masks of compassion, but inwardly they are heartless.  Their reward is the applause of others, and nothing more.  It adds that God isn't impressed by what others think about us, nor about what we think of ourselves.  The reward is to good deeds based on pure motives of the heart.

"And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words."  Hypocrites miss the spirit of prayer, which my study bible describes as an intimate and personal communion with God that leads to the vision of His glory (1 Corinthians 2:9).  It says that hypocrisy blocks out this communication, and this vision.  Vain repetitions don't establish this type of communion; God doesn't need babbling words.   To partake of this communion requires both silence and words.  So we pray always (Luke 18:1) and without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  It's not that Christ condemns many words, but that words must truly express the desire for communion with God.  In the next verses, Jesus does give us specific words to repeat (the Lord's Prayer), and so we note, it's not repetition per se that is a problem - it's "vain" repetition.  Psalms, prayers, and hymns have been repeated for countless generations even as we seek to worship God "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23).  My study bible also says that true prayer isn't telling God what God already knows and then telling God what He should do about it.  It's not appearing pious in front of other people.  It's humble (go into your room), personal (pray to your Father), and sincere (do not use vain repetitions).

"Therefore, do you not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  My study bible says here that the Father-Son relationship within the Trinity reveals our potential relationship with God.  Christ, the true Son of God, gives us the privilege of calling God our Father by grace of adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).   As a "son of God" (that is, one who inherits), a Christian is called to love, trust, and serve God as Christ does the Father, my study bible tells us.  Let us note the importance of communion here, of relationship.  God isn't our Father only because He created us.  He is Father in a saving, personal relationship of love, a communion that comes by the grace of adoption (see John 1:13; Romans 8:14-16).  In these words, we see the closeness of communion; what we pray for is God's will to be thorough, in all places in heaven and on earth.

"Give us this day our daily bread."  The word translated as daily is ἐπιούσιος/epiousios in Greek.  It literally means "above the essence" or "supersubstantial."  Clearly it reflects the reality of the eucharistic bread, Christ Himself.  To pray thus for our daily bread means that we don't pray simply for daily nourishment - bread for this day.  It's the bread for the "eternal day of the Kingdom of God," my study bible puts it.  That is, the nourishment of our immortal soul.  The living supersubstantial bread is Christ (John 6:5).  In the Lord's Prayer, my study bible tells us, we don't ask merely for material bread for physical health, but rather for the spiritual bread of eternal life (John 6:27-58).

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  This request to be forgiven is plural -- we're to pray always for the forgiveness of others.  Debts refers to spiritual debts.

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen."  God tempts no one to sin, says my study bible (see James 1:13).  But temptations do come from the evil one, the devil.  Temptations are aimed at the soul's giving in to sinful or selfish passions of the flesh (Romans 7:5).  None of us lives without temptations, but we pray not to encounter temptation or tests beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."  Here Jesus poses mutual forgiveness as a precondition of God's forgiveness.  Those who don't forgive aren't forgiven.  Jesus will repeat this same teaching in the parable of the unforgiving servant (18:21-35).  My study bible says that to not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with  sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward."  As we come upon Lent, this is a good thing to think about.  Fasting practices are designed to help us to understand not only discipline, but that we are capable of saying no to the things that tempt us, to forego things we may desire for the love of God.  To keep a sad countenance or to show off one's fasting is once again a mere external display that has nothing to do with the point of the practice.  My study bible says that for the one who fasts, the compassion of God outshines physical discomfort.  In the tradition of the Church there are both seasons of fasting and seasons of feasting.

There is a lot to consider in today's reading.  But we do note that Jesus emphasizes the personal nature of relationship or communion with God.  Jesus does not speak about praying to the Almighty, or the Lord.  Instead, it is a deeply personal relationship that He speaks about.  He tells His disciples, "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."  He speaks to them of "your Father," and repeats those words twice.   And what He says conveys the deepest intimacy.   To go into one's room, to shut the door, to pray to "your Father who is in the secret place" and "your Father who sees in secret" conveys yet another layer of intimacy.  Let us note that although generally speaking He addresses His disciples in the plural, here the "you" (of your Father) is singular.  That again gives us a further depth of intimacy.  All of this ties in with Jesus' teachings against hypocrisy in spiritual practices, because it's the depth of the relationship that makes faith a true richness of the heart.  Jesus speaks of One-to-one intimacy, in the deepest and most secret places both of God who is and who sees in the secret place, and our own secret place, so to speak.    These are the hidden places of the heart.  The word for room here in the Greek is ταμεῖον/tameion, which implies an inner chamber both for refuge or privacy and for storing treasure, one's cherished goods or wealth, things of value.  (In modern Greek, it's used as the word for cash register.)  This is the real depth Christ calls us to in relationship.  Metropolitan Anthony Bloom in his book Beginning to Pray teaches us also about intimacy in prayer.  Jesus speaks to each disciple in telling them to pray to "your Father."  Bloom encourages us also to find our private word for God.  He uses the example of David who, having addressed God in formal tones, bursts out in a psalm "You, my Joy!"  (see Psalm 42:4, "God my exceeding joy").  Repeatedly in the Psalms we encounter other words for God that express an intimacy of experience:  "my shield," "my strength,"  "my refuge," "my deliverer," "my salvation."  Jesus' own life teaches us about His intimacy with the Father, to which He calls each of us in our own inner rooms, in the privacy of the closed door, with our Father in the secret place who sees in secret.  Let us find our own way there and know the trust, joy, and refuge we may also find.