Matthew 6:5 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Matthew 6:5-8) The second religious duty which forms a central part of every Christian life is prayer. The Pharisees prayed too – of course they did – but their prayers had a fatal flaw, which meant they would never be heard. We may wonder whether that it troubled them that they would not be heard, for it is clear that they were not really seeking an answer from God, but certainly it should have troubled them. The fatal flaw was that they prayed to be seen by men rather than praying to God himself. Not that they treated men as able to answer their prayer, as having powers equal to God, but they were satisfied to get something less from men instead. They were satisfied with the admiration that came from men, and did not worry too much that God did not hear them. Christ makes this wrong practice of the Pharisees a lesson for his disciples on how not to pray. The problem with the Pharisees was not that they neglected religion but that they made a public show of it. They prayed on the corners of the street, or in the synagogues – wherever they would be noticed. Human hypocrisy is seldom at a loss; it can make something out of almost any situation. The Pharisees would pray on the crossroads for hours, repeating over and again. They were earnest about it on the outside, but it was all a playact. Today such a performance would be laughed to scorn, but then it was admired. It was hard; it was painful: let no one say their religion cost them nothing. But that too – that costliness was part of the performance, so let none think that there must be sincerity here, says Christ. If you think that, you have been taken in by an elaborate charade. God is not taken in. How foolish this is when God’s reward is so much more substantial than any reward that men can give us. He can give real answers to prayers; men cannot. His reward is lasting, theirs passes away; his reward is deserved, theirs is obtained by deceit; his reward blesses the soul, theirs cannot reach the soul. They love to pray standing in synagogues. But wasn’t that perfectly legitimate? Yes, but what Christ means is that they were not interested in prayer at home. They like praying in the synagogue because they knew they would have an audience. They were like one who is only interested in praying in the church meeting, because human praise is the only thing that makes prayer worth doing. Yes there should be a public prayer meeting, but it is no so that we can put on an act.