Let us continue by looking at Jesus’s teaching on prayer. In the sixth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus really gets down on the subject.
“5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward you openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
These four verses are the second most misunderstood passage in the Gospels. Let us try to make sense of them in modern language. Verse five speaks again about intent. The Greek word for hypocrite is the one used for an actor in a play. When you pray, don’t be a play actor, working the crowd for acclaim. A private and personal conversation should not be open to public view. That is what personal prayer is, a conversation between your soul and God. Jesus is not condemning public worship here. He directed His apostles to encourage the faithful to gather for public worship on a regular basis. The rites and prayers of public worship are essential to feed the human soul. We are social beings, so social bonding in service to God is part of what makes us grow. What Jesus is condemning is the practice of showmanship for the purpose of public acclaim.
Jesus commands that when we pray on the personal level we should do so in a private setting, secretly, so only God and ourselves are present. I see this as another encouragement to practice contemplative prayer. The practice of contemplation that I use is called Hesychasm, the Greek word for solitude. In this practice one becomes able to enter into a state of silence and solitude even in the midst of a tumultuous crowd. And done right, no one among that crowd can tell that one is praying.
Jesus also condemns the the use of “vain repetitions.” As some have interpreted this phrase it would be a violation of Jesus’s command to recite the Lord’s Prayer. Let us look at the context of the times and the culture, then compare that to today’s world and see what this means to us now. The Greek word translated as “vain repetitions” is the word for stuttering. My assumption is that Jesus does not want us to use a mantra, a word or phrase that has little or no meaning to us, but focuses the mind. The practice of praying a mantra had become widespread throughout the known world before Alexander conquered his empire. Jesus wants us to pray with our understanding (the Greek nous) and our will (Greek thelema) not just turning them off with a phrase like “the center of the lotus.”
Jesus tells us that God knows what we need before we pray. So what is the reason to pray? We don’t pray to inform God of our needs, but to connect to God when we are lagging behind or drifting off course. Prayer is not a service to God in the end, but to our own souls. When we pray we need to listen as well as speak. Our words are not for the benefit of the Father, but for our own benefit. So what we say is important because it directs our inner being to a closer relationship with God, or drives a wedge between us and God, depending on the words. In the Greek language of the New Testament the meaning of the words (logos) is a separate concept from the sound of the words (rhema). Thinking in these terms, the intention of the prayer, the meaning of the words, and the setting in which we pray all have equal import.
In my next installment, I will tackle the Lord’s Prayer, as it is recorded by Saint Matthew.
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