Nobody Likes A Show-Off

“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.  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”  Matthew 6:5-6

We all know that a hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another.  Hypocrites usually do things with the wrong motive.  Some of them may be well-intentioned, but their egos get in the way.  The “ego” is defined as one’s awareness of oneself giving oneself more importance than one really possesses.  When someone offends another, the one offended asks, “Who does he think he is?”  Well, he’s thinking and behaving based on his “ego”.  Ego is really nothing more than human pride, of which Christ urgently cautioned His followers to be conscious and not let it rule in our hearts.

The hypocrites to which Christ was referring were the scribes and Pharisees.  But before we get too smug in our assumed humility, Christ warns us, too, for we are apt to become just as prideful if we are not careful.  (We can become like the man who became proud of his humility!)  Jesus was well aware of the motive of these scribes and Pharisees.  They “loved to pray standing in the synagogues” so that everyone could see them.  In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus used a parable, as He often did, to illustrate the difference between a prayer for show and a truly sincere desire of the heart.  A Pharisee and a publican (tax collector) both went to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee bragged about all the “good” that he had done for God and thanked God that he wasn’t a “rotten sinner” like the publican.  Of course, he didn’t say “rotten sinner”, but I am sure that’s what he meant.

The publican, who was so ashamed of himself, stood in the back of the temple with his head hanging down, beat on his chest, and asked God for mercy admitting his sinful ways.  In God’s eyes, the publican was justified, and the Pharisee was not.  The Pharisees also liked to pray out loud in the open streets so that everyone passing by could hear them.  The only reward they received was their own self-praise that boosted their own egos.  Like those who pass by the modern day street preachers, I doubt very many of the people passing by the loudly-praying Pharisee praised him.  There might have been a small number who were impressed, but perhaps they were only trying to find favor with the Pharisee.  Most people likely condemned him because most people do not like a “show off”.  The other option was to ignore him.  Jesus said in Luke 18:14 that “everyone who exalts (elevates) himself shall be abased (humbled).”  (Speaking of modern day street preachers, many folks condemn them for preaching on the street corner, but I think it is mostly because those who pass by don’t want to hear the word of God.  They want the preaching to be confined to the four walls of the church house.  However, that’s not what Jesus said concerning the spread of the gospel.  These preachers are only obeying the great commission of going into all the world and preaching the gospel “unto the uttermost part of the earth”-Acts 1:8b.  I don’t see these street preachers the same way as the Pharisees are presented.  It takes a lot of courage to stand and proclaim God’s word to those who are mockers, scoffers, or just plain indifferent to the gospel.)

Jesus said the godly way to pray is to go to a private place (closet), shut the door so that no one or thing can distract you or no one else can hear you, and then pray to the Father.  When it’s just the Father and you, there’s no one around to impress.  There’s no one to overhear the confessions of your heart.  You have freedom to express your thoughts, needs, and concerns to you heavenly Father.  When folks pray to “be seen of men”, that’s all they get–an audience of men who have no power to answer their prayers.  Of course Jesus is not talking about being called on to pray in a church service or meeting.  Most people don’t like to be called on to pray publicly, but I think there are some who do judging by the length of their prayer.  I have almost fallen asleep in church while someone is praying publicly, and it seems like they didn’t want to leave anybody out of their prayer!

I think most believers feel that their prayers are inadequate particularly if their prayers don’t sound as good as someone else’s.  But that’s not what God cares about.  He doesn’t compare believers to one another.  One thing to remember about prayer is that the Holy Spirit turns our humble, simple, sometimes disorganized and confusing conversations with the Lord into expressions which words can’t describe (Romans 8:26).  I guess we might could call the Holy Spirit our great prayer Proofreader!  We can rest in the knowledge that God longs to hear from us.  He is never to busy to “take our calls”.