Matthew 6:7-21

There are good things and bad things about familiar Bible texts, such as today’s. The good thing is that they are familiar. The bad thing is … that they are familiar.

First, the good: It is truly a wonderful thing to have in one’s own mind and heart these words of Jesus – always available to us, as close as our breath. In these verses, we are reminded that our God knows what we need even before we ask. We can touch this promise anytime that we bring these verses to mind.

It is also a good thing to know a prayer by heart. The Lord’s Prayer, as we have come to call it, rolls off our lips easily, effortlessly. Whether we are alone or with others, whether we pray silently or aloud, we can rest in the familiar cadence of these words. We relax and don’t struggle, wondering what to say – the words that most of us learned as children are just there … right there … for us any time we need them.

Of course, there is more to our lesson than the part where our Savior teaches us to pray. Jesus also teaches us about things like attending to our motivation – do we pray and fast (if we fast) in ways that draw attention to ourselves? Are we praying or fasting in order to gain the favor or praise of others? Do we care more about image or relationship?

When I was in my twenties and thirties, any time I would attend a conference or workshop – or even when I was in a professional meeting or a class – I was continually trying to figure out ways to look good – to look smart – to seem clever. I would seek out the teacher, presenter, or leader, and I would do my best to impress them. On the face of it, I suppose there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, I was singularly focused on my image, on what the one in power thought of me… so focused, in fact, that I probably didn’t deeply interact with anyone, even the leader or presenter. I placed image above relationship. In trying to look smart and clever, in trying to impress those whom I thought had power, I missed out on relationship. I sat in conference rooms and meetings with other human beings, all of whom had come there with their own hopes and fears, and I was so focused on my image that I failed to get to know anyone else deeply or to let them know me. Full disclosure: that tendency didn’t instantly stop after my thirties, nor can I say that it has completely stopped to date!

Can anyone relate?

Jesus knows this about us. He knows this about me. He knows how easily we slip into self-conscious worry about what others are thinking about us and about how we appear to others. He knows that we lean toward seeking the approval of other people, toward wanting them to be impressed by us.

In these familiar verses, Jesus reveals how very well he knows us. Lest we think that he is talking about some other people who pray with lots of words or make their fasting obvious, about some other people who want to get noticed for being really good, when we hear these words can we hear them as a wake-up call?

Because, you see, the good news is that these verses, these words of Jesus, are familiar. And the bad news is that they are familiar. In our comfort, in our easy resting within these verses, do we miss a prophetic word of Jesus?

It has been said that there are three types of sermons: comfort, celebration, and challenge. Usually a preacher will spend some time in more than one of these areas within a single sermon, comforting the people, and celebrating the gifts of God revealed in a given text, while also challenging people and shaking them out of their comfort zone. It has further been said that a preacher’s task is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.

I’m relatively new to this preaching thing, being ordained just about nine and a half years, and I have a lot of growing to do. I confess to you that I am better at comfort and celebration than I am at challenge. I preach comfort to the afflicted and the hurting much more readily than I preach in a way that afflicts the comfortable.

Our Master, on the other hand, was a master of the challenge sermon (and the comfort and celebration, too). He continually challenged people to see themselves and others in a new light. He challenges us in these very familiar verses, too.

Because God already knows what we need before we ask, it seems reasonable that the reason we pray is not to look good before others or God, but for our own benefit – to deepen our relationship with God. It’s not about our image. It’s about our relationships… with God, with ourselves, and with others.

In some ways, these carefully built up and neatly-tended images of ourselves become idols, distracting us from what really matters: our relationship with God, with ourselves, and with others.

Jesus says, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Can we hear these familiar words in a new way today? Can we let them move us away from our self-absorption and our need to tend our image, and toward relationships? Can we let others know us, fears and foibles and all, and can we find wonder and joy in getting to know others in this same way?

Think about these things. Amen.