DO YOU EVER pray in front of other people? I’m not talking about saying grace at dinner, in the privacy of your own home. I mean speaking to God out loud in a public space where others can see and hear you.

Every Sunday in our Bible fellowship, for example, after the morning’s lesson is over, folks sit around tables sharing prayer requests and praying for one another. Often, however, only one person at each table actually prays out loud for all the requests while the rest pray silently. That’s not just a matter of efficiency. In part, it’s because some people are comfortable praying in public, and others aren’t. The latter sometimes feel too self-conscious, as if they were facing some invisible pressure to “get it right.”

And as you might imagine, it’s part of my role to pray in ministry-related settings: when I preach, officiate a wedding or memorial, visit people in the hospital, or even teach a seminary class. There have been times in between church services, when people were milling about, that folks have come straight up to me to ask for prayer. I’ve tried, not always successfully, to make a point of asking them if they’d be okay with me praying for them on the spot. No one’s ever said no; in fact, many seem grateful for the offer. I try as best I can to shut out my surroundings and focus on God and the person, even as the hubbub of other conversations swirls around us.

Public prayer of one kind or another, then, is nothing new to people of faith. But imagine that one day you go shopping downtown, and see someone standing on a busy street corner praying, his eyes closed, his hands raised toward heaven. Perhaps his lips are moving; perhaps he’s even speaking aloud.

How would you react? What would you be thinking about that person? Would you be saying to yourself, Good for you, or What the heck?

I imagine some people would stare, while others would think, It’s just some religious nut. If I saw that, honestly, it would make me uncomfortable, and I would probably hurry past, pretending not to see. In my cultural and historical context at least, that kind of public prayer would be rather unusual behavior — and I would probably be wondering silently what that person was up to.

In Jesus’ day, however, such behavior might not have raised as many eyebrows. Among Jews, standing was the typical posture for prayer, and it was common to raise one’s arms as well. Indeed, one of the Hebrew words for “praise” used repeatedly in the Psalms literally means to use your hands (those of you of a more charismatic bent will understand implicitly). In principle, then, I don’t think Jesus would have objected to someone praying on a street corner.

But he might have asked why they were doing it in such a public place, because the motivation matters. Was it truly about conversing with God? Or did they want to be admired by passersby for their piety?

THROUGHOUT THE SERMON on the Mount, Jesus has been teaching his listeners about the nature of true righteousness, the kind of righteousness that embodied the kingdom of heaven. The people had been taught by their religious leaders that righteousness consisted of external obedience to rules of behavior derived from the Law of Moses.

But in Matthew 5, he taught instead that righteousness is first and foremost a matter of the heart and character, and gave several examples of how that might play out in relationship to others. For example, a righteous person will reconcile with people who have something against them. A righteous person is a truthful person whose word can be trusted. A righteous person prays for their enemies.

Then in chapter 6, Jesus distinguishes between true righteousness and superficial acts of religious piety. As we’ve seen, he begins with almsgiving, criticizing the hypocritical way some people — presumably Pharisees — give money to the poor in conspicuous ways that call attention to themselves and their generosity. If that’s the reward they seek for their piety, he teaches, then fine, they have their reward. But they shouldn’t expect anything from God. He tells his hearers instead that they should give in secret; that’s what shows that the motive is pure. God will see what they do in secret and reward them accordingly.

Jesus then teaches the same lesson with respect to conspicuous and hypocritical prayer:

And 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 others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matt 6:5-6, NIV)

We need to be clear: Jesus is not forbidding public prayer here, but criticizing the motives behind it. After all, he himself prayed in public, fully aware that others were listening. Think, for example, of the story of raising his friend Lazarus from the dead. Just before the miraculous spectacle, he prayed these words out loud:

Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me. (John 11:41-42)

Did you catch that? Jesus doesn’t have to tell the Father, “Thanks for listening.” He doesn’t say it for the Father’s benefit, nor for his own: he says it for the benefit of the people who are listening to him pray. He says what he says, in their hearing, so that they will believe when he calls Lazarus out of the tomb.

Note, too, that this consciousness of others is not the same as the self-consciousness we sometimes suffer when we pray in public. Self-consciousness is concern about the self, an anxious wondering about how others will see us and think of us. Did I leave anything out? Did I use the right words? Did that sound religious enough? Compassionate enough? Did I remember to say “in Jesus’ name” and “Amen” at the end?

Jesus wasn’t concerned about his public image, about whether he would be liked or admired. He was intentional about his choice of words for the benefit of his hearers, but he wasn’t trying to impress anybody. We might say it this way: although he prayed in public, it wasn’t for the sake of his publicity. And unfortunately, the same could not be said for the hypocrites among the Pharisees.

SO, LET IT be said: there is, in principle, no sin in praying publicly. Neither is it wrong to refrain from doing so if it means feeling too self-conscious, for worrying about what others think of us is hardly the posture for prayer. And for those of us whose ministry roles necessarily include leading others in prayer, let us always be asking God to search our hearts and reveal any selfish motives that may lurk there.

That’s probably something we should take up with God in private though, as we’ll see next.