The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus rejects prayer staged for spectators and sends prayer into the inner room, behind a closed door, before the unseen Father. The Father sees what stays hidden and rewards it.

A⁵nd when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward. ⁶But when you pray, go into your inner room, shut your door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Prayer is not to be padded with many words, as if length could secure hearing. The Father already knows what is needed before it is asked.

⁷And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Jesus then gives a pattern prayer that seeks the Father’s name, kingdom, daily bread, forgiveness, and rescue from temptation. The requests move from God’s rule to human need.

⁹So then, this is how you should pray: ¹⁰Your kingdom come, ¹¹Give us this day our daily bread. ¹²And forgive us our debts, ¹³And lead us not into temptation,

Forgiveness stands at the center of the closing lines, where forgiveness asked and forgiveness given are joined. A refusal to forgive leaves the prayer’s final plea unresolved.

¹⁴For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.