Jesus examines several common religious practices and gets to the heart of them.
Every Jewish person in the crowd would have caught on to what Jesus was doing- contrasting the common showy outward religious activities with the inward heartfelt pure meaning/motive.
God is concerned at our heart level first.
Religious people can fall into a trap of trying to put on a show to please God (works), when what God really wants is honesty and devotion.
May my exterior actions and my interior motives match for the glory of God.
Many people are put off by empty religious activity- probably because of bad examples or bad experience. Show a better way.
Our Father in heaven your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
