Our Father in heaven

"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 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 a 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 have been reading the passages from the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospel of Matthew, since Monday. Beginning with the Beatitudes, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 5, has led us through the important topics of Jesus' teaching: the blessings of the spiritual life, or the Beatitudes; the teachings that His disciples are to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world; His expansion on righteousness regarding first the law against murder; His teachings on our own internal work regarding our thoughts and passions; and His teachings on justice and just behavior. Today, we venture into territory regarding prayer, charitable acts, and fasting - religious practice or spiritual discipline and good works.

"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." In each of Jesus' important teachings today on spiritual discipline - regarding charitable works, prayer, and fasting - His greatest criticism comes to hypocrisy, or hypocrites. "Hypocrite" in the original Greek means "actor." What He is condemning is prayer or charity - any form of piety - for outward show. If all we care about is the opinion of others, then we are missing the point. It is our relationship to God that is essential here, and God's love teaches us how we must relate to others. It is the Father who sees in secret whose understanding of who we are counts. It is again the expression here of a divine economy, in which the blessings we give in secret will be returned to us through the Father.

"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 not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." Again, a teaching against hypocrisy -- those who make a great show of their piety, who work for an audience, and not the power of the relationship that is in secret, with our "Father who is in the secret place." And again, there is emphasis on a divine economy: our "Father who sees in secret will reward you openly." My study bible says the teaching here is not against repetition per se, but against "vain repetition." The importance is that we do not babble, do not make prayers for their sound or impression, but that we cultivate a relationship - a personal and private relationship to Our Father in heaven. The teaching that God knows what we want in advance is so important: we're not really informing God about anything, nor are we making demands. We are cultivating relationship, "exchanging wishes" as the Greek word for prayer literally means. We are going to our Father with all we are, opening up ourselves for teaching and instruction, for love, and sharing all that we are as He shares Himself via grace with us.

"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." First, we address God, our Father who is in heaven. His name is for all that is holy, and covers all that comes to us in goodness and righteousness and mercy and grace. Our great desire is to expand that kingdom, that holiness - to manifest that kingdom amongst ourselves and within ourselves, in our world. This begins our prayer, that heaven and earth, and all that Our Father is and desires be made present to us in our world as well. We begin our prayer by setting ourselves in the right place, offering the right perspective.

"Give us this day our daily bread." The bread referred to in this prayer is not necessarily the bread we eat for food, nor a symbol of material needs. "Daily" is a rather misleading translation for a Greek word that appears nowhere else in literature, and seems to have been coined specifically for this prayer. The word in Greek means more closely "super-substantial;" that is, something that has a greater reality to it - literally, "above the essence." What this implies is not only what we need for each day in terms of our material sustenance, but that which we need which includes all that we are, our spiritual reality, what feeds our souls. In other words, this word is like the Eucharist itself - the bread of God's food for us. In a very true poetic sense, we pray to receive each day the food we need for our eternal and immortal life, for "the eternal day of the Kingdom of God," as my study bible puts it so aptly. We pray for the Bread of Life, which we need daily.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." I've heard it expressed recently that God's forgiveness for us is infinite - therefore we share in that forgiveness when we realize the capacity we have to forgive others. Moreover there is once again a teaching about the divine economy here: what we are willing to share with others will also be shared with us by God. My study bible notes that "by using the plural, Jesus directs each of us to pray for the Father's forgiveness of all, and for all of us to forgive one another." It adds that "debts refer to spiritual debts; when we sin, we 'owe' restitution to our offended neighbor and to God." We are to seek to practice the loving nature that we know belongs to God.

"And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one." This is a kind of poetic statement in itself: in the Greek, we pray that temptation not be "led into" us, and we ask to be taken or brought into God's presence, "snatched away" from the "evil one." This is about the essence of what is called spiritual battle - the prayer that all the temptations we wish to resist not be a part of ourselves, and that God's strength be with us always. More powerfully, that we be in the presence of God, delivered from the "evil one." ("Evil one" is a more precise translation than "evil.") The word for temptation is also a form of "test" or "trial." My study bible says, "Thus we pray that great temptations, tests beyond what we can bear, should not come our way."

"For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." We return, in the economy of the prayer, to the kingdom of God, God's glory and power -- it is here we wish to dwell, to remain, and that which we wish to manifest in "on earth as it is in heaven." It is this power with which we wish to be allied for our true sustenance and support in life.

"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, finally, an important added emphasis and understanding of the real spiritual economy in which we dwell: we must share that which we wish for ourselves. It elevates us - human beings - to a stature worthy of a creation of God, made for independent thought and choice. We offer forgiveness as our Father in heaven offers us forgiveness. But we bear this responsibility; if we live in selfish expectation without our own growth in this love then we realize nothing of it.

"Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a 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." And finally, a teaching on fasting, another religious practice or spiritual discipline. And a repeated emphasis on the condemnation of hypocrisy, or "acting." Life, in the Christian discipline, is not only first and foremost for that relationship with the Father in heaven (rather than for outward show for the opinions or "praise of men") but it is also for joy. That is, it is for the joy of this relationship of love, whether we cultivate that relationship through fasting or other difficult disciplines. Furthermore, Jesus teaches us that we fast from much more than food, but from sin, from dwelling in thoughts which cultivate temptation and keep us from that relationship with our Father who is in the secret place.

A powerful reading is what we receive today, with many thoughts on the spiritual life, on how we pray -- and warnings about practicing as hypocrites, or "actors." Such is Jesus' contempt for hypocrites that He says, "They have their reward." So what does this all mean to you? How do you realize that relationship with your Father who is in the secret place? What do you do to cultivate that relationship and its strength for you? How do we live in this divine economy, of powerful realities that reward us on spiritual terms, for things not necessarily known or seen by others? It is a relationship of love in which we dwell, and cultivate and grow its blessings. Jesus began this Sermon with the Beatitudes, and today He teaches us more fully about the realization of the blessings He has taught.