First Mennonite Church
September 21, 2025
Sermon on the Mount: True Piety
Text: Matthew 6:1, 5-15
There is the story of a church that got upset when a bar got opened just across the street from its building. The congregation complained that the area had turned rowdy since the bar was opened. There was noise and drunkard walking around always. So, the pastor and his congregation began to pray about the situation asking God to do something about the bar. The bar owner learned about the pastor and his congregation’s displeasure of the bar and about their prayer. One day, in the very early hours, the bar some how caught fire and was burned to the ground. The bar owner took the pastor to court and accused him for the destruction of his bar. When the judge asked the bar own why he believes the pastor was responsible for his loss, he said, “He was praying that something would happen to my bar, and it burned down!” The pastor said, I was praying about the noise but did not believe something will ever happen.” The judge was surprised at the bar owner’s belief in the power of prayer and of the pastor’s doubt in his own prayer.
Jesus’ prayer here in Matthew six, is not regarding the trust we must have when we pray, but the problem of making of prayer only a show of religiosity to attract attention and admiration. Jesus was denouncing those who were making of pious practices only to gain human admiration and approval.
Our passage on prayer is the second of three indictments Jesus had against those who use religious practices only to gain lookers approval. Judaism, as many other religions, considers alms-giving, prayers, and fasting as foundational personal practices of piety and devotion to God. The first one—charity, is considered the genuine expression of concern for the wellbeing of the poor. The Hebrew Bible explicitly says that “giving to the poor is lending to God and honoring the Lord” (Proverbs 14:31, 19:17). Israel was charged with providing for the poor (Exodus 25; thus, certain practices were established.) Gleaning, the practice of leaving the edges of fields from being harvested in order that those who needed food could go and pick up some of the crop (Exodus 23, Lev. 19:). Some part of the sacrificial animals was also reserved for those in need of food (Deuteronomy 26). Employers were instructed to pay they poor the very day they worked and not have them wait until regular payday (Deuteronomy 25).
Therefore, embedded in the Judaism is the practice of charity. If we remember, Jesus gave instructions to his disciples to be the light of the world “so that others might see their good deeds and glorify their heavenly Father.” However, here Jesus was against those who give alms with the intentions of being admired and applauded by humans.
The third practice Jesus warned against is making obvious and looking miserable when fasting only to gain admiration.
Jesus also had a strong warning against those who use prayer to gain public admiration. Jesus rejects ostentatious and insincere prayers. In his warning, Jesus criticized they way some Jews, whether the Pharisees or other temple leaders did and the way the Gentiles prayed. On the one hand there was those who prayed in public—the corner of streets and in the synagogue just to display their religiosity. To those, Jesus says, they already have their reward; thus, he reminded his disciples that all prayers should be addressed to God alone. Therefore, prayer does not require a holy place, but a sincere heart. The intent of every prayer should be to acknowledge the holy presence and merciful heart of God who knows our heart and our needs.
Regarding the Gentiles, he said that they prayed long and repetitive prayers thinking that by the duration and repetitiveness they will be heard. Therefore, he reminded his disciples that God already knows what their needs are even before they open their mouths in prayer.
Therefore, Jesus reminded his disciples that prayer should be addressed to God alone because through prayer we trust in the nearness and readiness of God.
For that reason, Jesus told them how to pray.
This prayer is the model prayer for the disciples. The opening words in this prayer reflects one part of the Jewish way of addressing God in prayer—”Our Father.” Jewish prayer commonly begins with “Our Father, our King . . . “ Yet, Jesus omits the second phrase and uses only “Our Father” to refer to the intimacy between the disciple and God to whom the disciple is praying. This is the Father who forgives, who loves, who give good gifts to his children. On the other hand, this prayer is also a clear reminder to all Jesus’ disciples that they are brothers and sister of one loving and merciful Father.
It is important for us to take notice that this model prayer begins not with needs or desires, but by honoring and exalting God. Jesus reveals that exalting God is by petitioning that God’s name be made holy here on earth as it is heaven. In the biblical worldview, names are not only labels to distinguish a person from another. Names represent the essence, presence, and reality of a person. Thus, when we pray that God’s name be made holy, we are committing to embody God’s holiness in our daily activities. But this petition that God’s name be honored is not only by us but by all, beginning with us.
The petition that God’s kingdom come, although its complete reality is eschatological—in the end of times, God’s kingdom has a present aspect now. God’s rule, reign, and will is being made present by the children of the kingdom, those who follow Jesus. This prayer on the one hand reminds us that God’s kingdom is his and his alone who can make it a reality. God’s kingdom is not the works of humans, yet everyone who makes this prayer should commit in doing God’s will here on earth as it is done in heaven giving witness that God is reigning already.
Give us our daily bread, Jesus prayed. Bread in Jesus’ prayer is more than just the loaf made out of wheat. In the context of the other elements in this prayer, it refers to the messianic banquet when all God’s people will sit together in God’s kingdom. However, it could not exclude the daily needs of the poor contemporaries of his audience. Bread was literally the means of survival. Hunger was real for many among Jesus’ followers. Therefore, today when we pray this prayer, we also join the millions of people in the world who struggle to find sustenance, shelter, and security. This prayer should remind us that there are many people who are starving and dying from hunger today for whom we need to pray.
Forgive us as we forgive those who offend us. This prayer is the recognition of our need of God’s forgiveness. All have sinned, says Paul. Jesus teaches his disciples to ask God forgiveness because they are in a debt they cannot pay to God. This is especially clear in Jesus’ closing words: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
God’s forgiveness is unconditional and becomes the ground and source for Jesus’ followers’ capacity to forgive also. Therefore, Jesus binds God’s forgiveness to his disciples’ willingness to forgive others. Jesus makes it very clear that asking God for forgiveness should be unthinkable for the one who intentionally refuses to forgive others their offenses. Jesus’ closing warning about unforgiveness, reminds us that we all are recipients of God’s unconditional and unmerited forgiveness, yet it is not something we ultimately and definitely possess. God’s ultimate forgiveness to us, in the end it, will depend on our willingness to forgive others. Otherwise, we don’t have God’s forgiveness.
Lead us not into temptation. This part of the Jesus’ prayer has bothered Christians from the earliest times. Does it mean that God tests Jesus’ disciples by setting temptations before them and for which he has to be asked not to do so? However, in light of the general focus of this prayer, which has a primary focus of the closing of time, the prayer makes sense especially with Jesus’ eschatological—end times, declarations in this Gospel. In Matthew 24, 21-23, Jesus announces that in the end there will be great suffering and great trials and dangers for his followers, for which if those days were not shortened, even his followers would fail to endure. It’s in light of the severe sufferings and tribulations to come that his disciples should pray that God would not allow them to go through this dangerous time.
As we can see here in Matthew, Jesus reminds us that prayer language is not informational—that is, to inform God about our needs or to gain admiration and human praise. Along those lines, prayer is not the pious venting of our emotions, frustrations, and needs before God. On the contrary, prayer is a confession in the sense that it expresses our trust about the nearness and trustworthiness of God. Prayer is the testimony of our total dependence on God’s faithfulness and mercy. Therefore, we ask for bread, not to inform God of what he does not know nor to persuade a reluctant God to provide, but in humble declaration that we depend on him.
When we pray, let us feel free to open our hearts before God. When we pray, let us remember that the present is connected with the future, that our lives are connect with our neighbors’ lives, that heaven wants to touch the earth. When we pray, let us remember that God knows us and wants us to know him as the loving Father. Amen!
Pastor Romero