Luke 11:1-4
A. INTRODUCTION
1. A New Ministry
When you’re stating something new, it’s always hard to know where to begin. What should you talk about first? Should you talk about who you are and what makes you tick? Should you talk about hopes for the future and where you hope to be in three years’ time? Or should you talk about something completely different, and let the other two issues come out in the wash?
Well, what I’d like to do is to talk about something that is well known and basic to the Christian faith. And it is something that describes what makes me tick. And it is something, that if we take seriously enough, will tell us–where we all should be in three years’ time.
2. The Lord’s Prayer
And what I want to talk about are the words to the Lord’s Prayer—the prayer (or rather the model prayer) that Jesus gave his disciples to help them in their relationship with God.
Now, of course, we have two versions of it in our bibles—one in Matthew (Matthew 6:9-13) and the other in Luke. Matthew’s version is the longer and it expands on the basic message in a couple of ways, but without any real change in meaning to the prayer. (And it is the version which is, perhaps, more familiar.) Whilst Luke’s version is the shorter no-frills version, and the one that gets down to the basics of the teaching of Jesus.
So, with no real difference between either, what I’d like to do is to examine Luke’s version—the shorter, no-frills version—and to examine just what the Lord’s Prayer is all about.
B. THE LORD’S PRAYER
Now, the context of this teaching of Jesus was that the disciples wanted to know how better to communicate with their creator. They’d learnt much from Jesus, and that included the need to continually have communication channels open with a loving God. As a consequence, as part of his teaching Jesus gave them this model prayer on which to base their conversations with their creator.
1. ‘Our Father’ (2a)
And as a result, the very first idea that Jesus gave them was the need to remember that God wasn’t a distant, unapproachable, uncaring creator. Rather, he was someone who wanted to be very much involved with his creation.
Jesus’s very first word, ‘Father’, contains within it not the idea of a distant uncaring relative, or of an aloof disinterested parent, but rather someone who desires an intimate relationship with every one of us—the original disciples and ourselves alike.
Yes, God may be the great and all-powerful God as described in the Old Testament. But the image that Jesus tried to portray was that he was also a caring, loving (and even doting) father, who was very approachable, who wants to look after our needs, and who is keen to encourage the kind of relationship that is reflected in the fact that he wants to be known in terms like ‘daddy.’
And getting that right, getting that relationship right, is important. Because whilst God is still the all-powerful, all knowing, all everything God, what follows in the Lord’s Prayer are two sets of petitions—requests of God—which hinge on the idea of having a direct, and intimate, relationship with him.
2. 1st Petition – The Establishment of God’s Purposes
And the first set of petitions—composed of two parallel requests—point to the fact that our prayers should be focussed towards God as much as to ourselves. And, as a consequence, we are to express concern that God should have his rightful place in the scheme of things.
a). ‘Hallowed be your name’ (2a)
‘Hallowed be your name.’ If God’s name is representative of who he is, the kind of person that he is, and the kind of reputation that he should enjoy, then the idea is that we should look forward to a time when ultimately all mankind will speak of God with appropriate reverence and honour.
A time when all men will revere and worship God. And a time when blaspheming and sinning against God will have ended—the time at the end, when this will come true.
b). ‘Your kingdom come’ (2b)
And ‘your kingdom come.’ The idea is that the end will not only come but is something we should look forward to with anticipation. It will be a time when God will be given his rightful place by all creation, and a time when all believers will experience his kingdom in all its fullness—a kingdom which we can only partially experience now.
The emphasis in this petition is, fairly and squarely, on the sovereignty of God—giving him his due—and that what he has promised. It is on the consummation of this world and the fulfilment of the next. Nevertheless, with this petition, there is also a hint of the blessings that come when God is acknowledged as king and his rule is allowed full sway.
c) Comment
So, with these two ideas ‘hallowed be your name’ and ‘your kingdom come’”, then, the prayers, in the petition, are outwardly the same.
When Jesus taught those words to the disciples—as the first major part of the Lord’s Prayer—basically, what Jesus was saying was that as part (and that’s a major part) of having an intimate relationship with God, we need to be looking outwardly, looking forward to the time when God’s sovereign rule will be established in its totality. And therefore, in our prayers, it is very important to acknowledge who God is and what he has promised. Indeed, a major factor in living the Christian life is that we need to believe, live, talk, breathe, and pray as though the kingdom of God really is at hand—and have that as a central focus of all that we say and do.
(And, incidentally, the additional idea in Matthew (‘your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ follows exactly that theme).
3. 2nd Petition – The Personal Needs of the Disciples
And having acknowledged God, and our personal relationship with him, and with a heart set on the fulfilment of the kingdom, the second petition, that Jesus taught the disciples, begins. And this has, at its heart, three concerns regarding the needs of every disciple—past and present.
a) ‘Give us each day our daily bread’ (3)
‘Give us each day our daily bread.’ Now, this isn’t just a request for God to provide us with the barest essentials of life, with the effect that life will continue to be a struggle. No! The idea is that we need to acknowledge that we depend upon God totally for our daily needs. And that we need to ask God for what we need, knowing that he will provide, and that he will continue to provide food for the body and for the soul.
This petition acknowledges our dependent relationship with God. And it recognises that if we are genuine in our request, he will give us what we need. But not just physical food, but spiritual food too.
b) ‘Forgive us our sins’ (4a)
‘Forgive us our sins.’ Well we all make mistakes. And none of us can ever claim, truthfully, to have given—or still give—God his proper due. As a consequence, we have a debt to God that we cannot possibly pay. And we are totally dependent upon him to wipe out our past mistakes.
This part of the prayer then acknowledges the totally hopelessness of our situation. And our total reliance on God for our eternal welfare to save us from God’s final judgement.
But this request has a condition attached. ‘As we forgive those who sins against us.’ Our forgiveness is conditional upon our forgiving those who have wronged us, If we won’t forgive, or can’t forgive then we shouldn’t expect God to forgive us either.
The petition recognises that we can limit God’s ability to forgive us. If we can’t forgive, then he won’t be able to forgive us no matter who the offender may be. (And that includes the Hitler’s and the Bin Laden’s of the world as well as family members). And as a consequence, the prayer stands as a warning about not allowing any obstacles getting in the way of God’s forgiveness.
c) ‘And lead us not into temptation’ (4b)
And ‘lead us not into temptation.’ The final request, recognises that we all have inward temptations, and that it is easy to be seduced and be led astray by the attractions of the world. However, it also recognises that, from time to time, we may face tribulations and trials which will test our faith.
Now being tempted is not a sin, but yielding to temptation is. And the prayer recognises that left to our own devices we fail badly. And that we need God’s help to keep us on track.
d) Comment
The ideas of ‘give us each day our daily bread’, ‘forgive us our sins’, and ‘lead us not into temptation’, then, are all aspects of our everyday need to follow in the faith. The things that we depend on God to help us with, and the things, that left to our own devices, we would fail at every turn.
Jesus’s teaching recognises that we need God, not only to accept the faith, but to remain faithful. And therefore our prayers should reflect that dependence that we have on God to maintain our faith, and to keep on the straight and narrow.
(And again the additional idea of Matthew ‘but deliver us from the evil one’ follows that theme).
C. COMMENT
And at that point the Lord’s Prayer comes to an end. Both Matthew and Luke finish with those sentiments. Matthew may have recorded a few extra words than Luke, but essentially the stories and the meanings are the same.
But hold on, you’re going to tell me what about the extra line: ‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen.’ Well, I’m sorry to have to say that that probably wasn’t part of Jesus’s teaching at all. More likely it was an addition by the second century church—but with a reason.
The practice stems from worship services where someone would read the words from Matthew. And then the congregation would give a response, to acknowledge that they were in agreement with what had been said. And the response was ‘For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever Amen.’
Of course, what happened over time was that the response gradually became standardised as part of the prayer itself. However, importantly, they neither add nor take away from Jesus’s teaching at all.
D. IMPLICATIONS
The Lord’s Prayer, then, is a model prayer reflecting the intimacy of a relationship with our God. It reflects the longing that all followers should feel for the end times and the time when God will be acknowledged by all creation. And it reflects our utter dependence upon God for our daily needs in terms of the basics of life, the need for forgiveness, and the need for strength to overcome temptations and trials.
The question is though, if that is what the Lord’s Prayer is about, are those the things that we mean, when we pray, or when we say the Lord’s Prayer ourselves? Does the Lord’s Prayer describe what makes us tick? And does the Lord’s Prayer show us where we should be as a church in three years’ time?
1. An Intimate Relationship
Because, firstly, one of the things about the Lord’s Prayer is that it tends to be a prayer that often just gets rattled off. It’s almost as though it’s not something one has to think about. It’s like they are the words to someone who is distant, and remote. And it’s like by saying these words everything will be well.
And yet, the very first word ‘Father’ should always remind us that that wasn’t what was intended. As a consequence, to rattle the Lord’s Prayer off just because one knows it off by heart, or because it’s like some sort of magic formula, not only devalues the intimacy of the relationship with God, but it reduces the prayer to a meaningless series of words which has little or no basis in our lives.
2. The Establishment of God’s Purposes
Secondly, it raises the question of whether the end times—and the time when God will be acknowledged by all creation—really is one of the central focuses of our faith.
Living for today is one thing. But when we pray, when we say the Lord’s Prayer, or when we go about our daily work, is our faith—the things that we do, the things we hold dear, and our involvement in the church—focused on the promise that one day all this will be gone? That one day the faithful will be living with God in eternity, and that those who have other priorities in this life will be living in eternity in a living hell, in a place where God will neither be present nor represented.
3. The Personal Needs Of The Disciples
And, thirdly, this prayer raises the issue of whether we really are dependent upon God for our daily needs. After all do we trust God for our physical and spiritual food, or do we depend upon our own strengths and abilities to see us through? Do our prayers acknowledge our need for forgiveness, and our need to forgive others? And is that reflected in our daily lives? And do we really want not to be tested? Or do we enjoy being attracted by the pulls of the world and the not very healthy things this world has to offer?
D. CONCLUSION
The Lord’s Prayer, then, may be the best-known passage in the Bible and it may be something that many people know off by heart, but, more than that, it is a prayer that encourages an intimate relationship with God that has at its central focus the end times and the establishment of God’s kingdom. And that reflects the need for us to recognise our utter dependence upon God.
Now in the light of that, is this what people mean, when they say those words? Is that what we mean? Or do we mean something else altogether?
Does the Lord’s prayer reflect on what makes us tick? And does the prayer reflect where we want to be in three years’ time?
The Lord’s Prayer, in a sense, is a summary of the Gospel. Because the Gospel is about the need to get our relationship with God right; the need to give God his right place, and attention; the need to acknowledge our own faults and failings; and our utter dependence upon God. These are all central features of the Christian gospel.
The question is, though, is that what we mean when we say the Lord’s Prayer. Or do we have something else on our minds altogether?
Posted: 1st August 2024
© 2024, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
