Matthew 6: 1-7

By: Nina Vest Salmon

A student was dissatisfied with his grade on a 10-page paper he had turned in for an assigned three- to five-page essay. He couldn’t understand why his grade wasn’t higher based on length alone. “But it’s twice the required length,” he argued. “It should be at least a B plus.” He was assuming that more is better, when the truth is that more can be an infringement on the reader’s time.

Writers know that it’s harder to be concise than it is to ramble on for pages and pages. Brevity – when it’s important to articulate complex thoughts cleanly and clearly – is the harder work. Anyone who has ever worked to reduce a paper to meet a specified word limit knows this to be true.

The passage from Matthew invites us to cut to the core, to avoid the fluff and stick to what’s important – indeed, to what’s essential. Jesus offers this instruction: “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.” Instead, we are given the thesis, the essential core text:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

By eliminating the excess and focusing on the essential, we have a solid position. We have a way to live and a way to love. This one prayer cuts across age, race, sexual or religious orientation. It is one prayer, given to us all, and it, in essence, distills the teachings of Jesus into the simplest terms.

Excesses in life are as unnecessary as excesses in language. We ask God for our “daily bread.” We don’t ask for more than our share, for more than we need. We trust in God to help us with what we need. To ask for more shifts us from being sustained into being hoarders or gluttons. Economy or moderation keeps us from excesses of language, from greed, from overindulgence. Taking time to cut to the cleanest, clearest components is the best way to maintain perspective and sharp focus on what is essential.

Pray this version, further distilled into a concentrated fully powerful prayer that contains the gift of the Spirit that is knowledge:

Holy God, you are among us as we live. Sustain us. Love us unconditionally and help us to love one another. Be with us, even if we lose sight of you. Help us to help one another with love and compassion. Amen.