Matthew 6:1-15
“Notice what you notice.” Over the past few weeks we have seen Jesus chastising “the scribes and the Pharisees”. In today’s reading He doesn’t mention them (by name); instead His words are directed at hypocrites and Gentiles. My Study Bible says that Matthew mentions hypocrites 13 times, while Mark and Luke use that word only five times combined. No doubt, His hypocrites were likely the scribes and the Pharisees!
But another intrigue is the mention of the Gentiles: And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words (v. 7). I tried looking online to see more about Matthew’s take on the Gentiles, knowing that he was writing mostly to a Jewish audience. I couldn’t find much, except for two seemingly contradictory sentences. In Mt. 10:6 Jesus instructs His disciples to Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This stands in direct contrast to Jesus’ instruction in Matthew’s famous closing (Mt. 28:16-20) where Jesus directs his followers to make disciples of all nations. So was this missional change a result of Jesus’ rejection by the Jewish authorities? We saw earlier in Luke 4 that Jesus had a positive predisposition toward the Gentiles that had his Jewish audience “filled with rage”. So now another theme to watch for – Jesus and the Gentiles. Intriguing!
Slava Bohu!