Public Prayer

CJ Fant

In the Sermon on the Mount, in his set up of The Lord’s Prayer, Jesus gives his disciples some directions.

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-6)

Truthfully, this section has always given me pause. Jesus is encouraging us to pray in private–to isolate ourselves and pray where no one will see. But do we do this? When I examine my own faith and often the practices of the Church, public prayer is a very common thing. At Woodmen, the worship leader prays for our time of giving. Pastor Josh often begins his sermons by praying. When we set aside time for prayer in our community groups, we pray in front of our friends and families.

Are we directly going against the direction of Jesus in Matthew 6 when we do this?

The answer is no–there’s public prayer throughout the New Testament. Paul begins many of his letters with a prayer, and Jesus himself prays in public. Still, there is much to be learned from Jesus’ encouragement to “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father.”

During Jesus’ time, the Jewish people had established rhythms of daily prayer. We see this in the book of Daniel when we’re told Daniel prayed three times a day (the act that eventually kicked off the whole lions’ den thing). These prayers were called the “sh’ma” and were often said in public. Some people, in order to demonstrate their deep love for God, would try to find the most public places to say these prayers with the goal of people seeing them and praising their religiosity.

Jesus is directly calling out this behavior–this performative religion. He says the only reward these people will receive is the empty recognition of the people around them.

In our modern times, we don’t really pray loudly on the street corners so that people will high five us. Still, we can learn much from Jesus’ guidance. Here’s a couple of takeaways:

First, we need to prioritize a private prayer life. Do we take the time to find a secluded place to really connect with God? In our deepest human relationships, we realize we need to publicly acknowledge the other person, but also set aside time for one-on-one interactions. Are we

setting aside that time for God? Or is the only time we’re praying to God when other people are present, whether it’s for a meal or at our community group?

Second, it’s important to examine our heart posture when we do pray in public. Are we trying to say all the right words in order to impress the people around us? Or are we praying to really talk to God, to intercede for the people around us? One of the best ways to check our motives in prayer is to pray when no one can see us.

So did Jesus say to never pray in public? No. But he does warn against the corrupting influence of performative religion–to be on guard that our prayers don’t become more about us instead of a way to talk to our Father in heaven and connect with him.