APPENDIX I
Development of the version in use today
of The Lord's Prayer (as described in the website
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09356a.htm )
Although the Latin term oratio dominica is of early date, the phrase "Lord's Prayer"
does not seem to have been generally familiar in England before the Reformation. During
the Middle
Ages the "Our
Father" was always said in Latin, even by the uneducated. Hence
it was then most commonly known as the Pater noster. The name "Lord's prayer" attaches to it not because Jesus Christ used the prayer Himself (for to ask forgiveness of sin would have implied the acknowledgment of
guilt) but because He taught it to His disciples. Many
points of interest are suggested by the history and employment of the Our Father. With regard to the English text now in use among Catholics, we may note that this is derived not from the Rheims Testament
but from a version imposed upon England in the reign of Henry VIII, and employed in the 1549 and 1552 editions of the "Book of Common Prayer". From this
our present Catholic text differs only in two very slight particulars: "Which
art" has been modernized into "who art", and "in earth" into "on earth". The version itself, which accords pretty closely with the translation in Tyndale's New Testament,
no doubt owed its general acceptance to an ordinance of 1541 according to which "his Grace perceiving now
the great diversity of the translations (of the Pater noster etc.) hath willed them all to be taken up, and instead
of them hath caused an uniform translation of the said Pater noster, Ave, Creed, etc. to be set forth, willing
all his loving subjects to learn and use the same and straitly commanding all parsons, vicars and curates to read
and teach the same to their parishioners". As a result the version in question became universally familiar to the nation, and though the Rheims Testament, in
1581, and King James's translators, in 1611, provided somewhat different renderings of Matthew 6:9-13, the older
form was retained for their prayers both by Protestants and Catholics alike.
As for the prayer itself the version in St. Luke, xi, 2-4, given by Christ in answer to the request
of His disciples, differs in some minor details from the form which St. Matthew (vi, 9-15) introduces in the
middle of the Sermon on the Mount, but there is clearly no reason why these two occasions should be regarded as
identical. It
would be almost inevitable that if Christ had taught this prayer to His disciples He should have repeated it more
than once. It seems probable, from the form in which the Our Father appears in the "Didache" (q.v.),
that the version in St. Matthew was that which the Church adopted from the beginning for liturgical purposes. Again, no great importance can be attached
to the resemblances which have been traced between the petitions of the Lord's prayer and those found in prayers
of Jewish origin which were current about the time of Christ. There
is certainly no reason for treating the Christian formula as a plagiarism, for in the first place the resemblances are but partial and, secondly
we have no satisfactory evidence that the Jewish prayers were really anterior in date.
Upon the interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, much has been written, despite the fact that it is
so plainly simple, natural, and spontaneous, and as such preeminently adapted for popular use. In the quasi-official "Catechismus
ad parochos", drawn up in 1564 in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, an elaborate commentary upon the Lord's Prayer is provided which forms the basis of the analysis
of the Our Father found in all Catholic catechisms. Many
points worthy of notice are there emphasized, as, for example, the fact that the words "On earth as it is
in Heaven" should be understood to qualify not only the petition "Thy will be done", but also the
two preceding, "hallowed be Thy name" and "Thy Kingdom come". The
meaning of this last petition is also very fully dealt with. The
most conspicuous difficulty in the original text of the Our Father concerns the interpretation of the words artos epiousios which in accordance with the Vulgate
in St. Luke we translate "our daily bread", St. Jerome, by a strange inconsistency, changed the pre-existing
word quotidianum into supersubstantialem in St. Matthew but left quotidianum
in St. Luke. The
opinion of modern scholars upon the point is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the Revised Version still
prints "daily" in the text, but suggests in the margin "our bread for the coming day", while
the American Committee wished to add "our needful bread". Lastly may be noted the generally received opinion that the rendering of the last clause should
be "deliver us from the evil one", a change which justifies the use of "but" in stead of "and"
and practically converts the two last clauses into one and the same petition. The
doxology "for Thine is the Kingdom", etc., which appears in the Greek textus receptus and has been adopted in the later editions of the "Book of Common Prayer", is undoubtedly
an interpolation.
In the liturgy of the Church the Our Father holds a very conspicuous place. Some
commentators have erroneously supposed, from a passage in the writings of St. Gregory the Great (Ep., ix, 12), that he believed that the bread and wine of the Eucharist were consecrated in Apostolic
times by the recitation of the Our Father alone. But
while this is probably not the true meaning of the passage, St. Jerome asserted (Adv. Pelag., iii, 15) that "our
Lord Himself taught His disciples that daily in the Sacrifice of His Body they should make bold to say 'Our Father'
etc." St. Gregory gave the Pater its present place in the Roman Mass immediately after the Canon and before the fraction,
and it was of old the custom that all the congregation should make answer in the words "Sed libera nos a malo". In the Greek liturgies a reader recites
the Our Father aloud while the priest and the people repeat it silently. Again
in the ritual of baptism the recitation of the Our Father has from the earliest times been a conspicuous feature,
and in the Divine Office it recurs repeatedly besides being recited both at the beginning and the end.
In many monastic rules, it was enjoined that the lay brothers, who knew no Latin, instead of the
Divine office should say the Lord's Prayer a certain number of times (often amounting to more than a hundred) per diem. To
count these repetitions they made use of pebbles or beads strung upon a cord, and this apparatus was commonly known
as a "pater-noster", a name which it retained even when such a string of beads was used to count, not
Our Fathers, but Hail Marys in reciting Our Lady's Psalter, or in other words in saying the rosary.
see also The
Prayer Jesus Taught Us
by Victor Hoagland, C.P.
based on the New Catholic Catechism 2759-2865
http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/teach.html
also there is a DVD-style movie of the Lords Prayer (a slightly different version) at http://www.interviewwithgod.com/playprayer.htm
Another site authored by Dr.A.L.Barry,
President, The Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod
describes the Lords Prayer in terms of Seven Petitions http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/LCMS/wa_lordsprayer.pdf
See also http://www.jesuswalk.com/greatprayers/1_lords_prayer.htm
The Lord's Prayer (Matthew
6:5-15)
by
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Audio Version 38:13
Adapted from Manifesto of the Kingdom (2004)
5"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 men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But 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. 7And
when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
8Do not be like them, for your Father
knows what you need before you ask him.
James Jacques Joseph Tissot
(1836-1902), "The Lord's Prayer," from The
Life of Christ (1899).
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our
Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us today our daily bread. 12Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from the evil one.'
14For
if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
We read and recite the familiar Lord's Prayer. The Bible, of course, nowhere calls Jesus' prayer
"The Lord's Prayer," nor is it called the "Our Father." How are we to look at it?
Is it
- An example prayer?
- A pattern prayer? or
- A prayerbook prayer to be repeated?
It appears, from the context, to be a pattern prayer. Jesus has just criticized some of the abuses
of prayer prevalent in his time: such as prayer "for effect" (verses 5-6, perhaps typified by the prayer
of the righteous Pharisee contrasted by the tax collector's "Be merciful" prayer, Luke 18:9-14). Jesus
has also contrasted righteous prayer with wordy prayers (vs. 7). He seems to be showing his disciples how to pray
properly, avoiding some of the pitfalls, and including an appropriate mix of praise and petition.
Was this the only prayer the disciples were to pray? No. We have many prayers recorded by Jesus,
his disciples, and the Apostle Paul. None of them has a word for word correspondence with The Lord's Prayer, but
all of them follow patterns Jesus taught in this prayer.
Salutation: Our Father
(6:9b)
The prayer begins by addressing God as "Our Father".
Bible scholars pretty much agree that behind the Greek word pat r,
"father", is the word `abba
in Jesus' native Aramaic tongue.1
Rather than the formal word for "father," `abba
is the family word, something like the affectionate "Dad" or "Daddy" that we use in English.
(See also Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). There is a formal word for "father," but the word
apparently used here stresses the intimate family relationship. This is striking. Jesus was teaching his disciples
to understand God as their Father. Though the rabbis spoke of God as the Father of the people, Jesus is teaching
them to address God as their own personal Father, a new and wonderful revelation.
When you meditate on this a moment, the awe and wonder of it begins to break over you. The God who
created the universe is our Father. The God who revealed himself in fire and smoke and thick clouds is our Father.
"Father" is a relationship word, and to consider that we have the relationship of child to father with
God himself is an awesome thought.
In Jesus' day, "father" included the concepts of care, love, responsibility, discipline,
hopes and dreams for one's children, respect, authority, and blessing. In the West, fathers have no where near
the life-long patriarchal authority that fathers have in the Middle East and Far East. Our fatherhood is but a
shell of the powerful concept of "father" that Jesus communicated through this intimate word. Some of
the Middle Eastern father is depicted in Jesus' parable of the Father and the Prodigal Son to illustrate the loving,
searching, longing quality of our Heavenly Father (Luke 15:11-32).
"Father's Love Letter," originally written for a sermon illustration
by Barry Adams, a pastor in St. Catherine's, Ontario, Canada, is a wonderful meditation of what kind of Father
our God is. I strongly recommend that you read it, and take it personally. You'll be enriched (www.fathersloveletter.com)
Some in our generation have excised the word "Father" from their prayers on the basis
that too many bad fathers have hurt too many children, and the image of father makes it hard for some to want to
come to God. Resist this teaching that contradicts the express teaching and example of Jesus. As you meditate this
week on the Lord's Prayer, I encourage you to reclaim for yourself the term "Father." Seek to find out
in what ways he is a Father to you.
Notice that Jesus teaches us to call out to God as "our Father." Not just a self-focused
"my father," but a communal "our Father." The Lord's Prayer is intended to be prayed not only
privately, but especially in the community of God's people, the Church.
Who Art in Heaven (6:9)
Jesus then teaches us to pray to God "who art in heaven," which adds infinity to our understanding
of God. Though Solomon built a temple for God, he prayed, "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens,
even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27) Yes,
God is greater than his creation, but "the heavens" is a way to understand the greatness of God's dwelling.
And when we reflect on God's greatness, it is easier to have faith to ask of him things that seem difficult to
us.
Petition 1: That His
Name Be Reverenced (6:9c)
The first petition is "hallowed be Thy name." The Greek word is hagiazo, which means "to treat as holy, reverence."2
Our word "Halloween" is short for "All Hallows Eve," or "All Saints' Eve"). "Hallowed"
comes from the English word "holy." Why does Jesus include the concept of "hallowed" in the
"stripped down" version of his prayer? Because without it, our understanding of "Father" can
be distorted.
Our understanding of "Father" could become sentimental to the point of presuming upon
and taking advantage of the Father's graciousness towards us. "Hallowed" reminds us that the Father is
holy, set apart from sin. That he can be both the Father of sinners and set apart from sin requires Jesus' atonement
to reconcile. When we pray, though we pray with the privilege of intimacy to our "Abba, Daddy," we are
never to imagine that we are buddies with God, or his equals. He is always our Father, and he is holy and exalted.
Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, recognize his exalted place of dwelling, and to reverence him.
The phrase "hallowed be Thy name" may seem a little awkward to us, but in the Near East
the idea of "name" stood for the person, his authority, his character, and his activity. When Jesus tells
us that the Father's "name" is holy, he means that the Father's whole Person is holy. "Name"
can be used as a substitute for a person himself. To paraphrase, "Father, hallowed be your name," means,
"Father, may you be treated with the respect and honor that your holiness demands."
It is common for Christians, particularly Christians who come to faith later in their lives, to
have a rather profane vocabulary. To be in the habit of using God's name often, and sometimes almost as a swearword.
If, when being surprised, we say "Lord!" or "Christ!" or "Jesus!" or "God!"
we are using God's holy name in a profane and common way. We are not reverencing his name, but debasing it. Disciples
discipline their mouths and their hearts to reverence the Father's name.
Including "hallowed be your name" in our prayers means that we are to approach the Father,
not only with familiarity, but also with reverence and respect for his greatness and holiness. He is our "Dad"
but he is also Holy. And as we are learning to pray, we must not forget this.
Petitions 2 and 3: For
His Kingdom and Will (6:10)
When we pray, too often we want to get on quickly to our own concerns. But in Jesus' model prayer,
we first pray about the concerns of God's Kingdom and his will. This is not the petitioner's prayer so much as
the disciple's prayer. This is how disciples are to learn to think and pray and act, with God's Kingdom foremost
and predominant in their minds.
"Thy kingdom come...." What are we asking? We can't take this phrase or fragment without
looking at the rest of the sentence, since the meaning is found in the context.
"Thy
kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The Kingdom of God
The idea of the Kingdom of God is complex. It goes far back into the Old Testament, at least to
the book of Exodus, where God reveals himself as Israel's King. He makes a covenant with them in the form of an
ancient suzerain-vassal treaty, a treaty made between a great king and a subservient people (Exodus 19:3-6). The
tabernacle in the wilderness is the throne room of a desert monarch. He leads them by day and night. Having no
king but Yahweh is one of the unique marks of the Israelites, to the point that their clamoring for a king under
Samuel's judgeship is considered a sin (1 Samuel 8).
Saul was Israel's first human king. David, born in Bethlehem, of the tribe of Judah, was the second
king and becomes the archtypical king. He is promised that one of his sons will always sit upon the throne (2 Samuel
7), fulfilled ultimately in Jesus Christ. (I cover this in greater detail in my essay "What Is the Kingdom of Heaven?" www.jesuswalk.com/manifesto/kingdom-of-heaven.htm)
John comes proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 3:2), and
Jesus takes up the same message (Matthew 4:17). He sends out his disciples with the authority to do miracles and
proclaim to villages, "The kingdom of God is near you" (Luke 10:9, 11). The kingdom of God comes when
Jesus proclaims God's reign, and demonstrates that reign by preaching good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners,
sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and the Jubilee Day of the Lord (Luke 4:18-19). The kingdom is
here in Jesus and his disciples -- and in you and me -- but it will come fully and completely when Jesus returns
to earth to reign over all as King and Lord (Revelation 11:15).
May Your Kingdom Come
Jesus asks us to pray that the Kingdom of God come soon. As one of the last phrases of the Book
of Revelation says, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20). The Kingdom will only be present fully
when Christ returns, when "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he will reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
When we pray, "Your kingdom come," we are asking God to manifest the power and glory of
his kingdom in us, and throughout our world. What a prayer! We are praying that Christ might reign over all. We
are also asking the Father to hasten the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. Amen!
May Your Will Be Done
on Earth
This petition is also a condition for prayer, that all our prayers conform first to God's will.
How can we pray the kind of prayer that Jesus wants of us, and still ask for our petty desires which are so clearly
contrary to God's revealed will in the Bible? Teach us to pray, Jesus, we say. Part of that teaching, surely, is
to determine God's will and pray along those lines. Prayer for disciples is not to be selfish prayer, but prayer
in tune with and guided by God's will.
Petition 4: For Daily
Needs
The fourth petition in this prayer is for our own needs: "Give us this day our daily bread."
This is a curious phrase, because in one short sentence it includes two words that are specific to the current
day:
The word translated "This day" is Greek sem ron,
a fairly common word that means "today". But also in the sentence is an extremely rare word, which is
usually translated "daily," the word epiousios.
While its exact derivation is a matter that scholars love to debate, it probably means either "for today"
or "for tomorrow."3
Whichever it means, it is a prayer for the immediate and not distant future.
Bread, of course, is the staple of life. The word is often used for food generally, since bread
is the most important food, and is extended here to mean, all of our needs, all those things that we need to sustain
us.
Receiving from God
So, the prayer means something like, "Give us today what we need for today," and fits
very well with Jesus' teaching later in the chapter, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (6:34).
The implication here is that we are to come to God with our daily needs. When we say "Give
us," that doesn't mean we don't expect to work for our living, but that we recognize God as our Provider.
So often in the Western world we have a regular salary that comes like clockwork, month after month, and we take
our livelihood for granted. Only when we are laid off or touched by serious illness do we begin to ask daily for
his provision. Jesus teaches us to learn to become dependent upon our Father, and to bring to him our daily needs
-- though we disciples are to put our own needs after the Father's holiness and kingdom and will.
Our Strong Desire for
Independence
It's strange, but we long to break free from the necessity of praying this prayer. We would like
to store up enough money so that we don't have to worry -- or pray -- about where our next meal will come from.
We would like to be "comfortably" well off, if not rich. We don't want to have to pray for our next meal.
I don't think that Jesus wants us poverty-stricken (though that may happen to us and in that he
will be fully able to meet our needs). But he does want us to get in the habit of relying upon the Father -- for
everything. Should we thank God for our food if we have earned the money for it by our own labor? Of course!
"You
may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the
Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he
swore to your forefathers, as it is today." (Deuteronomy 8:17-18)
Since it is God who gives us the ability to earn a living, then in a real sense, it is he who "gives"
us our daily bread. He strengthens us, and provides through us. So often, when we have our health, we take this
ability for granted. Jesus is teaching us to look to the Father for every provision.
Sometimes you hear the teaching that we should pray for others' needs, but never for our own, that
God will provide without us even asking. Though that teaching sounds pious and faith-filled, it goes directly counter
to Jesus' own teaching. We are to ask God for our daily needs. He is interested in our jobs. He cares about your
school. He is concerned about the health of your business. He cares about your marriage, and children, and relationships.
Your church matters to him.
Jesus teaches us, "Give us today our daily bread." How is it that we so often confuse
such a simple concept?
Petition 5: Forgiveness
(6:12, 14-15)
The fifth petition is for forgiveness. But like the daily-ness of the fourth petition, the fifth
petition, too, has a twist. The prayer is:
Forgive us
our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
Three Greek words are used in relationship to sin in The Lord's Prayer in Matthew and Luke. Christians
from different traditions use different words as they recite The Lord's Prayer.
"debt" (Matthew 6:12), Greek opheilema, 1. "debt = what is owed, one's due." 2. In a religious sense debt = sin (as Aramaic
hobah in rabbinical literature).4
"trespass" (Matthew 6:14-15, KJV), Greek paraptoma, "in imagery of one making a false step so as to lose footing: a violation of moral standards,
offense, wrongdoing, sin."5
Paraptoma is a compound word from para "beside or near" and pipto
"to fall". Thayer defines it as "a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, misdeed."6
"sin" (Luke 11:4), Greek hamartia "sin. The action itself as well as its result, every departure from the way of righteousness
."7 Literally, "a failing to hit the mark."8
But this prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," is a sort of trick
prayer. It is a prayer Jesus uses to teach his disciples the elements of praying aright. The Greek word hMs, is a conjunction marking a point of comparison, meaning "as."9 Jesus teaches us to ask God to forgive us "as" we forgive others. In other words, if
we forgive others only a little and hold grudges, we are asking God to forgive us only a little and bear a grudge
against us. Wow! How many people pray the Lord's Prayer thoughtlessly, and each time they pray, they pray a curse
of unforgiveness down upon themselves!
Jesus is making a point in this prayer, a point which he explains in more detail just after the
prayer:
"For
if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive
men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (6:14-15)
How could it be plainer? Jesus had just told his disciples not to seek retribution. "Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (5:44-45). Now
he makes it clear that we must forgive, if we are to be considered sons of the Father. Otherwise he will not forgive
us.
It is a hard saying, but it is God's way.
Quintessential Forgiveness
Perhaps the most powerful example is that of Jesus himself. "He came to his own [people],"
John records, "and his own [people] did not receive him" (John 1:12). His miracles and bread attracted
the crowds, but when he had to say some hard things, they would leave as quickly as they had come (John 6:66).
A number of times, when he said something they didn't consider Kosher, they tried to kill him, but he slipped away
from their grasp (Luke 4:28-30; John 8:59; 10:31). But the time finally came that God had planned (Galatians 4:
4-5). Jesus knew it was coming, and though it filled him with pain to think of it, he faced it openly. This time
when his enemies sought to arrest him, he stood forth, said "I am the man," and allowed them to take
him. He allowed a mock trial filled with patently false and unsupported charges. He could have called legions of
angels to deliver him -- the armies of heaven were at his beck and call -- but he did not. Soldiers spit in his
face and mocked him with a cruel crown of thorns and a purple robe they said made him look like a king. They scourged
him nearly to death. Pilate washed his hands and ordered his crucifixion. And as they crucified him, he said, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
If we are to know and understand God, we must love. We must know and understand forgiveness. If
we reject this part of God, we reject the kernel of who he is (1 John 4:16-21). So when Jesus puts it so bluntly
in our passage (6:14-15) -- you must forgive to be forgiven -- we dare not reject this truth.
Isn't this a sort of "works righteousness"? some ask. If you are required to do something
before you can be forgiven, then isn't this righteousness by works? No. There's an old story of how to catch a
monkey. You chain a cage to a post, and put an orange in the cage. Then when the monkey tries to grasp the orange,
and can't pull it through the bars he is trapped. Can't he just release the orange and escape? Yes, but monkeys
don't let go of the things that enslave them. They hold on tightly -- just like people. And so he is captured,
just as surely as if he were in the cage itself.
To be free you must let go of unforgiveness. Is that meritorious so as to earn heaven? No, not any
more than repentance from sin is meritorious. We don't earn heaven by repentance or by forgiving. But we must let
go of our bondage to sin and hate if we want to receive something better.
The Struggle to Forgive
Forgiveness is sometimes terribly difficult. It's usually not so hard to forgive people we don't
know. The people with whom we have a relationship of trust who turn on us, who betray our trust -- those people
are the hardest to forgive. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, and boyfriends and girlfriends and our
best friends. They can turn on us and wound us deeply. Sometimes we even doubt that "It is better to have
loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." Maybe we should withdraw and protect ourselves and never
venture out again.
No. The path of health is forgiveness. The path of healing is forgiving.
Sometimes we resist forgiveness because we mistake it for substitutes. In my article "Don't
Pay the Price of Counterfeit Forgiveness" (Moody
Monthly, October
1985, pp. 106-108; http://www.joyfulheart.com/maturity/forgive.htm), I try to distinguish true forgiveness from
its chameleons. True forgiveness does not minimize the sin or the hurt, nor excuse the sinner. True forgiveness
chooses not to hold the sin against the sinner any longer. True forgiveness is pardon.
You may be freshly wounded and find your anger too massive to forgive. The injustice may be ongoing,
the outrage constant. Perhaps you do not feel you are able to forgive right now. Then I ask you to pray this prayer:
"Lord, I find it beyond my ability to forgive this person. I ask you to make me able
to forgive in the future." Even that prayer may stretch your faith (or obedience) to pray, but pray it anyway.
The God of Forgiveness answers prayers like that. He makes a way where there is no way. He takes us beyond ourselves.
Two simple lessons we disciples learn from this petition: (1) we must ask for forgiveness time and
time again, and (2) unforgiveness blocks God's blessing.
Petitions 6 and 7: Help
When Tempted (6:13)
"And
lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one." (6:13)
The sixth petition goes beyond asking for forgiveness; it asks for help in our times of trial and
temptation so that we do not sin so as to require forgiveness.
Keep Us from Temptation
On its face it is hard to imagine God leading us into temptation at all.
"When
tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." (James 1:13-14)
Sometimes we disciples flirt with temptation. We don't exactly seek temptation, but we are attracted
to sinful things and so we sort of wink at them. Our resistance is low; we are being "dragged away and enticed"
by our "own evil desire," as James puts it. This prayer, "and lead us not into temptation,"
helps teach us how important it is for us to stop flirting with sin but to actively flee and resist it. That is
to be part of the content of our prayers.
Some of you are saying, "But if God knew what I really thought about, or wanted to do, he wouldn't
have anything to do with me." Some of you are ashamed of your secret sins, but afraid to open them up to God
himself. My dear friends, there is nothing we have done or said or thought that can surprise our Father. The miracle
of the cross is that he cares about us in spite of our rebelliousness. This part of the Lord's Prayer reminds us
to call upon the Father for strength when we are tempted. We are not to fight a secret war against sin; the Father
wants to be our continual partner. He knows your weakness, and mine. And wants to free us and make us whole. What
a wonderful Father! What wonderful grace.
But God does test us. He allows circumstances that stretch
and try us to make us pliable enough that he can remold us into his own image.
"Consider
it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith
develops perseverance." (James 1:2-3)
Job was tested. So were Abram and Jacob and Joseph -- and Jesus. Trials can be positive, and Jesus
wouldn't be teaching us to pray to escape what is strengthening us. So it is probably better to see "Lead
us not into temptation," as the negative of its positive counterpart, "but deliver us from evil."
Testing may involve temptations, but God's desire is to help us escape temptation -- and the tempter. Here we're
praying: Don't lead us into places where we can be tempted, but lead us in places where you are, and where we can
be free.
Rescue Us from the Evil
One
This seventh petition is a prayer for deliverance or rescue from the evil one. It is recognition
of the spiritual nature of our warfare against sin. There is not just our own temptation, but a tempter. In our
own selves, we are no match for him. So we call out to God for rescue, for deliverance, for salvation from our
enemy.
Together, petitions six and seven are asking God: "Keep us from giving into Satan's temptations."
Petition five deals with forgiveness; six and seven with delivering us from sin. Together they make
up a prayer that helps us follow Jesus on his path.
A Doxology (6:13c)
"For
Thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory
forever.
Amen."
Having been raised a Protestant, the first time I heard the Catholic version of the Lord's Prayer
that left off the last doxology, I was shocked. It was like waiting for the other shoe to drop -- and it never
did. Actually, the Catholic version may be closer to Jesus' own words than the Protestant version. Let me explain.
The Protestant version of the Lord's Prayer includes a doxology. Our English word "doxology"
comes from two Greek words, doxa -- "praise," and logos -- "word"; a "word of praise". Sometimes it is called an ascription, since
these qualities are "ascribed" to God.
Our best guess is that the doxology was added -- perhaps on the basis of 1 Chronicles 29:11-13 --
to adapt the Lord's Prayer for liturgical use in the early church. Although the doxology was probably not part
of the original text, Jewish practice was to conclude prayers with a doxology, so it is unlikely that it was offered
in New Testament times without some form of doxology.10
One of my favorite parts of the Lord's Prayer is the doxology. I love to speak out loud as words of declaration
and praise, "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory," for all these are his in abundance.
Praise is a fitting way to conclude our prayer.
The Disciples' Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is deceptively simple. We may pray it often and by rote. We may take its words
for granted. But this week -- especially this week -- let the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray fill
your thoughts and meditations. And may its vocabulary become yours.
As we've examined the Lord's Prayer, you can see it isn't a prayer for everyone. It's not for those
who hunger for God to rubber-stamp their selfish plans, for it begins with "Thy will be done on earth as it
is in heaven." Nor is it for those who feel righteous, for it leads us to ask forgiveness. Nor is it for the
vindictive, for it bids us leave our hatred at the altar if we would be forgiven. Nor is it for the self-made man
who shuns dependence, for it teaches us to ask God for bread daily. It is a prayer for the obedient disciple who
would know God as he is, in his Fatherhood and glory and holiness. I commend it to you. Pray it thoughtfully and
reverently, and let it guide your prayers.
Prayer
Father, teach me to pray the right way, the way Jesus taught us to pray. I confess that my way of
praying is often self-centered and self-serving. Teach me to pray. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Bloch-SermonOnTheMount.jpg (800 × 403 pixel, file size: 54 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
The w:Sermon On the Mount by w:Carl Heinrich Bloch, Danish painter, d. 1890.
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Creator/Artist |
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Name |
Bloch, Carl |
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Date
of birth/death |
May 23, 1834 |
February 22,
1890 |
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Location
of birth/death |
English: Copenhagen, Denmark |
English: Copenhagen |
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Work
location |
English: Copenhagen |
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This image is a faithful reproduction
of a two-dimensional work of art and thus not copyrightable in itself in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art
Library v. Corel Corp.;
the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany.
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Another version from : http://www.v-a.com/bible/prayer.html
And
http://www.godswordforyou.com/bible-studies/the-lords-prayer/our-father.htm
http://www.bibletexts.com/terms/lordspr.htm
Meaning of the Lord's Prayer from the
"Amos'n' Andy" radio program
Here is an explanation,
part of a Christmas segment from the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio program, one which first aired in 1930 and
was repeated annually (and was filmed for the 1952 Christmas Day episode of the short-lived "Amos 'n' Andy"
television series). As Amos' daughter Arbadella lies in her bed on Christmas Eve, her father tenderly explains
the meaning of the Lord's Prayer to her:
ARABDELLA:
I've
been saying the Lord's Prayer with Mommie. What does the Lord's Prayer mean, Daddy?
AMOS: The Lord's Prayer? Well, darlin', I'll 'splain it to you. It means an awful lot, and with the world like it is today, it seems to have
bigger meanin than ever before.
ARABDELLA: But what does the Lord's Prayer really mean, Daddy?
AMOS: Now, you lay down, and you listen. The first line of the Lord's Prayer is this: "Our Father which art in Heaven" that means Father of all that is
good where no wrong can dwell. Then it says "Hallow'd be Thy name" that means, darlin', that we should
love an' respect all that is good. Then it says "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven"
that means, darlin', as we clean our hearts with love, the good, the true, and the beautiful, then Earth where
we are now will be like Heaven.
ARABDELLA: That would be wonderful, Daddy.
AMOS: Then it says "Give us this day our daily bread" that means to feed our
hearts an' minds with kindness, with love an' courage, which will make us strong for our daily task.
Then
after that, the line of the Lord's Prayer is "An' forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"
you 'member the Golden Rule?
ARABDELLA: Yes, Daddy.
AMOS: Well, that means we mus' keep the Golden Rule and do unto others as we would want
them to do unto us. And then it says "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"
that means, my darlin', to ask God to help us do, an' see, an' think right, so that we will neither be led
nor tempted by anything that is bad. "For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory forever.
Amen."
That
means, darlin', that all the world an' everything that's in it, belongs to God's kingdom everything Mommie,
your Daddy, your little brother and sister, your gran'ma you an' everybody and, as we know that, an' act as if we
know it, that, my darlin' daughter,
is the real spirit of Christmas.
*Photo
Andy (left), Amos (right), and "The Kingfish" (center), from the Amos N' Andy Television Show
More on the "Amos 'n' Andy"
radio program
|
Freeman F. Gosden as Amos, Kingfish,
and Lightnin' |
Amos and Andy was one of the funniest and most beloved radio shows of all time. Real Names: ,Freeman
Gosden (Amos, Kingfish, and Lightnin') and Charles Correll (Andy) were two of the finest comics of all time. Who can forget hearing "Holy Mackerel Andy!," and "I'se regusted, Andy!" The raw talent and humor that they exuded touched us all, and they will always be fondly remembered. Perhaps someday the networks will end their blacklisting of this popular radio and TV show. The truth is, Amos 'N Andy was no more demeaning to African Americans than The Beverly Hillbilies
was demeaning to southern whites.
Perhaps we will collectively learn to lighten
up, not get so bent out of shape, and learn to laugh at ourselves a little more. http://www.otr.com/amosandy.html |
Charles J. Correll as Andy |
