Give to Your Father, Not the Crowd
The warning is not against giving, praying or fasting but against performing them for an audience; the Father who sees in secret is enough. Then worry itself is confronted with birds, with lilies, and with a Father who already knows what is needed.
6 1"Take care not to practice your righteousness before others to be seen by them, or you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, don't announce it with a trumpet, like the hypocrites do in synagogues and streets, to be praised by people. I assure you: they've already received their full reward. 3But when you give to the needy, don't let your left hand know what your right hand does, 4so that your gift stays secret. Your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.
Pray to Your Father in Secret
5"When you pray, don't be like hypocrites who love praying standing in synagogues and on street corners to be seen by others. Truly, I tell you: they've already received their full reward. 6But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7When you pray, don't babble like those who don't know the Father, because they think many words will get them heard. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored as holy, a a v9 Jesus invites his followers to come to our Father with the same closeness he himself enjoys — not as distant servants but as beloved children of the same Father. 10your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' b b v13 Later copies close the prayer with "For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." The words are not in the earliest manuscripts; they came into the prayer from the early church's worship, where many still love to say them.
14"For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive others their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins.
Fast for Your Father Alone
16"When you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites—they disfigure their faces to show others they're fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have their full reward. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, c c v17 Putting oil on the head was ordinary daily grooming in Jesus' culture — the point is simply to look your normal, well-kept self. 18so you don't appear to others as fasting, but only to your Father, who is hidden. Then your Father, who sees what's hidden, will reward you.
Store Treasure With Your Father
19"Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and thieves break in and steal. 20But store up treasures in heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and thieves can't break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22"The eye is the body's lamp. If your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark. If then the light in you is darkness, how great that darkness is!
24"No one can serve two masters: he'll hate one and love the other, or hold to one and despise the other. You can't serve our Father and money.
Your Father Knows What You Need
25"So I tell you: don't worry about your life—what you'll eat or drink—or body—what you'll wear. Isn't life more than food, body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds in the sky: they don't plant, harvest, or store in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? 27Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28And why worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they don't work or spin. 29Yet I tell you: not even Solomon, in all his glory, was dressed like one of these. 30If our Father clothes the field's grass like this—here today, thrown into the fire tomorrow—won't he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31"So don't worry, asking, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32For those who don't know the Father chase all these things, but your heavenly Father knows you need them. 33But seek first our Father's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these will be added to you. 34So don't worry about tomorrow—it will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
