The central theme of the beatitudes?

Virtually everyone agrees that the "sermon on the mount" is the most significant compilation of Christ's teachings in one message.

Prayer - the "Lords prayer" - happens to be at the ¹center of this sermon. Was this intentional?

Could it be that prayer is central (in theme as well as ¹structurally) to this compilation of Christ's teachings?

Isn't prayer the greatest expression and indication of humility? And isn't humility the main disposition needed to know and walk with God? Isn't knowing and experiencing God ²most, based on our disposition or posture of humility before Him?

What does scripture say?

"God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble" is a main refrain in the bible. The importance of humility (or lack of it) is a theme woven throughout virtually every story in the Bible from beginning to end and for good reason - a critical reason. We will not and can not truly know God without it.

Buying into the lie that we can be our own god was the first step in the opposite direction, away from humility and the path humanity has been on since. And everything has come unglued as a result.

If you (we) want to know the level of your (our) humility, look at the significance of prayer in your life. How big a role does it play? The more humble you are, the more you will pray. The less you pray the less humble you are. The more humble we are the more we experience God's grace and love. To pray without ceasing may be the best indication of the deepest humility.

For a discussion of the humility of Christ click here. 

For a further discussion of the humility of Christ click here. 
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¹Christ's starting the sermon with "blessed are the poor in spirit" - i.e. the humble - is not without good reason. For a further discussion, click here.

²and chronologically

Matt
5:2-48
6:1-34 (The Lord's prayer 9-15)
7:1-27

The sermon consists of 108 total verses making verse 54 the halfway point structurally.

The subject of prayer starts at verse 55 and ends at verse 64 with 44 verses following. Of course, there were no chapters or verses in the original text but this helps us see that prayer is near the structural or grammatical center of the entire sermon as well as central to the sermon's theme.