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The Lords Prayer
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1 Do you know who first said:
 " I would rather live my life as if there is a God
 And  die  to find out there isn't,
 Than to live my life as if there isn't
And die to find out that there is." 


Now isn't that a mouthful?  It fits with me.
What risk is there to think there is a God\?

2
3
4 Verse Commentaries   MSW
5Our Father, who art in heaven,
 		    
6 Hallowed be thy Name.    
7 Thy kingdom come.    
8 Thy will be done,    
9 On earth as it is in heaven.    
10 Give us this day our daily bread.    
11And forgive us our trespasses,    
12 As we forgive those who trespass against us.    
13 And lead us not into temptation,    
14But deliver us from evil.    
15For thine is the kingdom,    
16 and the power,    
17 and the glory,    
18 for ever and ever.    
19 Amen.    
20    

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21 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: (vss. 5-6) prayer for effect (perhaps typified by the prayer of the righteous Pharisee contrasted by the tax collector's "Be merciful" prayer). 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 have a word for word correspondence with The Lord's Prayer, but all of them follow patterns Jesus taught in this prayer.

Salutation (6:9)

The prayer begins by addressing God as "Our Father". The Greek word used is abba, a transliteration of an Aramaic word that reflects an intimate family expression, something like our "Dad" or "Daddy" (also Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). Abba was the word children would call their father, even when they were adults. There is a formal word for "father," but the word 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.

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.

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

The first petition is "hallowed be Thy name." The Greek word is hagiazo, which means "to treat as holy, reverence" (BAG 9). Our word "Halloween" is short for "All Hallows Even" or "All Saints' Eve"). 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.

Jesus teaches us to call God our Father, recognize his exalted place of dwelling, and to reverence him. 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 his holy and exalted.

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."

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).

Yes, the Kingdom was "at hand" and present in the person of Jesus "in the midst of them" (Luke 17:21), and in the disciples' hearts where the Reign of God was established. But in Jesus' time and in ours we do not see God's will done on earth as it is in heaven. That waits for the full manifestation of the Kingdom when Christ returns to earth and sets up his reign here. The Lord's Prayer is a prayer to God to hasten that coming of the Kingdom.

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 semeron, 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 (BAG 296-297), it probably means either "for today" or "for tomorrow." 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 (BAG 110-111), and is extended here to mean, all of our needs, all those things that we need to sustain us.

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.

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" (Mt. 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) (BAG 598).

"trespass" (Mt. 6:14-15, KJV), Greek paraptoma, "false step, transgression, sin" (BAG 621), a compound word from para "beside or near" and pipto "to fall". Thayer (Greek-English Lexicon, p. 485) defines it as "a lapse or deviation from truth and uprightness; a sin, misdeed."

"sin" (Luke 11:4), Greek hamartia "sin. The action itself as well as its result, every departure from the way of righteousness..." (BAG 43-44). Literally, "a failing to hit the mark" (Thayer 30).

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 hos, is a comparative conjunction, meaning "as" (BAG 896-898). 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 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 monkey's don't let go of the things that enslave them. They hold on tightly -- just like people.

To be free you must let go of unforgiveness. Is that meritorious so as to earn heaven? No, 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.

The fifth petition is for forgiveness. We ask for forgiveness, and the ability to offer it to others. If we are to learn to pray, we must learn this lesson.

Petitions 6 and 7: Help When Tempted (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.

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)

But God does test us. He allows circumstances that stretch and try and 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 was 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 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.

This seventh petition is a prayer for deliverance or rescue from the evil one.

Together, petitions six and seven are asking God: "Keep us from giving into to 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. 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.

The discipline of Textual Criticism tries to determine which version of a disputed text is closest to the original words that Jesus actually said. The original Gospel of Matthew was doubtless copied for use in other churches. And each of those copies became the source of yet more copies, families of copies. In the last century and a half scholars have categorized the earliest manuscripts we have into families of manuscripts according to the similarities found between them.

Some of the earliest manuscript families lack the doxology -- specifically Alexandrian (Aleph and B), Western (D and most of the Old Latin), and the pre-Caesarean (f1) types. Those that include it are K L W Delta Theta, Pi, and f13, et al. A few manuscripts (such as the Didache have a different doxology altogether. Some of the earliest Church Fathers (Tertullian, Origen, and Cyprian, for example) didn't include the doxology in their commentaries on the Lord's Prayer. 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. (See note)

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

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.
22

How by praying the Lord's Prayer [1]

we can celebrate God's power and presence in spite of violent acts of terrorism and counter-terrorism

* * * * * * *

Mat 6:9 (TEV) - Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored;

    We celebrate the omnipotent power and ever-presence of God, our mutual, loving Father/Mother. [2]

Mat 6:10 [3] (TEV) - may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

    We celebrate that God’s kingdom is the only kingdom and that He alone rules:

    • We (even if only silently) acknowledge, reject, and rebuke all sin in ourselves and in others, including thoughts and acts of terrorism and revenge (recognizing that God requires honest confession and repentance for all sin, in order truly to understand that divine Love, God, is the only real power and the only real Life);
    • We gratefully recognize the brotherhood of all mankind;
    • We earnestly feel and tangibly reach out in charitableness to all mankind; and
    • We bless and forgive all those who have committed acts of terrorism, revenge, and all other wrongs against any of us -- against any family member, any friend, any group, any nation, any part of humanity.

Mat 6:11 (TEV) - Give us today the food we need.

    We celebrate that God eternally continues to give sustenance, life, love, and wisdom to all, including: those in the four planes; those in the destroyed buildings; all rescue workers and others who did not walk away from the attack scenes; all who have been physically or emotionally injured by the attacks; and all who still are threatened by any form of terrorism or revenge.

Mat 6:12 (TEV) - Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.

    We celebrate that we have forgiven others -- and that we ourselves can be forgiven -- on the basis that man in God’s image [4] can’t be a victim, because he/she is subject to, dependent upon, and sustained by only God.

Mat 6:13 (TEV) - Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.

    We celebrate that as God’s children, in the image [4] of God, we cannot succumb to temptation -- to hatred, revenge, fear, apathy, or any evil influences; rather, we only can express and experience God's love, care, wisdom, and omnipotent rule, all to the glory of God!\

Some footnotes

In the verses of the Lord's Prayer above (from the Today's English Version), the bold words represent the words that were in the original texts of Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. Many biblical scholars have concluded that Luke's version more nearly represents the original Lord's Prayer that Jesus first taught his disciples in Aramaic.

* To read Robert Nguyen Cramer's account of and response to his having been about 1000 feet from the World Trade Center when the first airliner hit the first tower on September 11, 2001, see http://www.bibletexts.com/issues/response2attacks.htm.
23  A series of four themed Sermons by Revd Tim Perkins

Acknowledgment: Some of the material in this sermon has been borrowed from a sermon series by John Ortberg and John Stott's commentary 'The Sermon on the Mount'

The World’s Greatest Prayer

“Your Kingdom come, your will be done”

Give us this day our daily bread

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

The World’s Greatest Prayer

Just imagine that when you get home tonight you find a message on the answer phone from Tiger Woods saying that he wants to fly you out to America to play a round of golf with you on one of America’s finest courses and to give you a few pointers to help you improve your game!

Maybe your not a golfer, perhaps you prefer shopping. Imagine if the message on the answer phone was from Imelda Marcos and she wanted to take you shoe shopping!

Or even better, what if it was Gordon Ramsey and not only did he want to teach you how to cook but he would throw in a five course gourmet extravaganza! Surely any sane person would jump at the chance of getting top-flight instruction by the world’s greatest master in the area of their deepest passion?

The disciples had been watching Jesus for some time. They realised that everything he did was bathed in prayer. Jesus prayed when his schedule was demanding and before he made big decisions. He prayed when he was disappointed. Mt. 14 recalls how Jesus prayed when he heard the news of John the Baptist’s death. He prayed when he was worried about his friends. Lk. 22: 31-32 records him as saying, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” And he prayed when he faced his ultimate challenge in Gethsemane.

The disciples saw that Jesus was at home with prayer. It came naturally to him. The disciples would have said that prayer was the secret to Jesus’ success, that it was the most significant aspect of his life and ministry. Through it Jesus was filled with peace, wisdom, power and grace.

But I guess, perhaps like us, the disciples struggled with prayer. So after watching him for a long time they eventually pluck up the courage to ask him about it, to teach them to pray how he prayed. And the funny thing is, that was what Jesus was waiting for them to ask. God does not want us to struggle with prayer. He doesn’t want us to feel guilty about it. He wants us to relish it and become experts in it.

But I wonder, how many of us actually feel like prayer experts? How many of us find our minds wandering when we try to pray and feel guilty because of it? I think if we are honest we have a problem with prayer. Actually I think we have 3 problems with it. We have a “who” problem, a “where” problem, and a “what problem”.

Often our prayers demonstrate that we do not really