Lord, How Should We Pray?
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Matthew 6:9-15
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
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The Lord’s Prayer
This prayer that many of us have prayed hundreds of times – the Lord’s Prayer – is from Matthew, Chapter 6. If this part of the Bible sounds familiar to you, that might be because we’ve been talking about it lately; this prayer comes from the Sermon on the Mount.
Today we’re going to talk through the Lord’s Prayer line by line. We’re going to give it some pause, and the reflection it deserves. Because for most Christians, this is a central prayer in our faith. But do we still think about what each line means as we pray it? Let’s do that today.
Before we start, let’s talk about prayer in general. Before Jesus teaches us this prayer – in the verse from Matthew 6 immediately before the Lord’s Prayer begins – Jesus teaches us “your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8).
What can Jesus mean when he tells us God knows what we need before we pray to him, and then instructs us to pray anyway? The answer is as simple as it is complicated. Does God need us to pray to God? Is God waiting for us to ask God what we need him to do?
GOD IS NOT SOME MAGIC GENIE IN A BOTTLE, OR ANOTHER SORT OF GRANTER OF WISHES. WE KNOW THIS. SO WHY PRAY AT ALL IF WE KNOW THAT GOD WON’T ALWAYS GIVE US WHAT WE WANT? BECAUSE WE HAVE FAITH GOD WILL GIVE US WHAT WE NEED.
The theologian Martin Luther can shed some light on this. Luther writes “In order that we might acknowledge and confess [the blessings] God is bestowing on us, and yet much more God can and will give to us, by our praying we are actually instructing ourselves, rather than God.”
BY OUR PRAYING WE ARE ACTUALLY INSTRUCTING OURSELVES, RATHER THAN GOD. Luther goes on, “a Christian heart, that recognizes we have everything from God and nothing from ourselves, [understands] that prayer teaches us to recognize both ourselves and God.
..[from prayer], we learn what we need, and from where we are to seek that, and get it.” IN PRAYER, WE RECOGNIZE OURSELVES AND GOD – AND OURSELVES IN RELATION TO GOD – AND IN SO DOING, WE RECOGNIZE THAT GOD IS ALWAYS GIVING US WHAT WE NEED.
This is the spirit in which Jesus teaches us both “God knows what we need before you ask him” and also “and yet still, pray to God, and when you pray, pray this way.” WE PRAY NOT TO GET WHAT WE WANT, BUT TO UNDERSTAND HOW GOD IS GIVING US WHAT WE NEED.
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“Our father, who art in heaven”
What does it mean to call God “our father?” In the Gospel of John, Jesus refers over and over again to God in this oblique manner. Jesus refers to God as “the father who sent me” in John chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15 and 16. Why would Jesus say it this way, and not just “God?”
This was a risky thing for Jesus to do. Jesus was opening Himself up to criticism and open hostility by claiming that God was “the father who sent me.” People at the time saw that as kind of a crazy thing to do. In fact, let’s not forget that it was part of what cost Jesus his life.
JESUS REFERRED TO GOD AS “THE FATHER” BECAUSE JESUS WANTED PEOPLE TO DISCOVER WHO THE FATHER REALLY WAS BY SEEING WHAT HE, JESUS, WAS DOING. JESUS WANTED ALL OF HIS BEHAVIOR TO GLORIFY GOD – HE TOOK THAT RISK.
WHEN WE CALL GOD “OUR FATHER,” WE MAKE THE SAME CRAZY, UTTERLY RISKY CLAIM. WHEN WE PRAY “OUR FATHER,” WE ARE INVITING OTHERS TO MEASURE OUR BEHAVIORS UP TO THE SAME STANDARD OF HOLINESS. IT IS NO SMALL CLAIM.
1 John 3:1, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” What great love the father has lavished upon us.
As our father, God has lavished upon us the same love as a father has for his children. A tender, protecting love. A love that understands perfectly who we are. A love that understands our weaknesses, and our strengths, and our needs. A love that cares for us accordingly.
What else does it mean for us to pray out loud, in front of others, that God is our father? First and foremost, it means to recognize that we ourselves are not God. We are still children. And just as we adults are to human children, so we as adults are still only children to God.
“Our father, who art in heaven.” Would you make a major life decision as a teenager without consulting a parent first? Would you ever go days – maybe even weeks or months – without talking to the parents you still lived with when you were a child?
When you were happy or excited about something your parents bought for you, or did for you, when you were a child, would you neglect to thank them? Some of us know that being a parent can sometimes be a thankless job. Yet we love our children anyway, don’t we?
One of my favorite theologians, Teresa of Avila, teaches us not to be shy with God precisely because God is our father. “What if I hosted the emperor of heaven and Earth in my own home, who came to visit only because he wanted to see me – me! – and to delight in my company,
…and I would not talk with him, or share anything about myself with him, or even spend time with him. What if I failed to accept the gifts he brought with him to offer me? What if I just left him alone, sitting there in my home, by himself?”
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, EACH OF YOU HAS, EVERY DAWN AND EVERY EVENING, EVERY SINGLE MORNING AND NIGHT, THE EMPEROR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH WITH YOU – JUST YOU! – SITTING IN YOUR HOME. SPEAK TO HIM. THANK HIM FOR BEING THERE.
GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT THE GIFTS HE BROUGHT TO OFFER YOU. PERHAPS THEY SEEM TO BE STRANGE GIFTS TO YOU, BUT THEN AGAIN THE EMPEROR LIVES IN A DIFFERENT LAND THAN YOU. IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TO DO WITH A GIFT, ASK.
“Our father, who art in heaven.” There is another thing I find poignant when considering what it means to refer to God as “our father.” It is that we, then, are all brothers and sisters. Not as some figure of speech. Literally.
My younger brother Daniel used to work in broadcast media, for various radio companies. And for a while, I was working to launch iHeartRadio with the private equity company who owned it. When Daniel was looking for a new job, I called up the powers that be.
“Hey, it’s Pete. I’m calling to ask a favor. My brother Daniel has lots of experience in radio and I’m wondering if you can connect him with Johnny over at that one radio station. Really? You’d do that for me? Well, thank you! I’ll have him get in touch.” The conversation took that long.
WHAT IF WE TREATED ALL GOD’S CHILDREN THE SAME WAY WE TREAT OUR BIOLOGICAL BROTHERS AND SISTERS? WHAT IF, AFTER REALIZING SOMEONE’S NEED FOR OUR HELP, WE DID FOR THEM WHAT WE WOULD DO FOR A BLOOD RELATIVE?
“Our father, who art in heaven.” I’ve never been a younger brother, because I was the oldest. But my younger brothers tell me they looked up to me quite a bit when they were coming of age. My brothers are 6 and 9 years younger than me, so they looked to my example.
WHEN WE PRAY THIS, WHO DOES THAT MAKE OUR OLDER BROTHER? THE OLDEST BROTHER, THE ONE WE ADMIRE? WHO WE’VE LIVED WITH AND LOOKED UP TO ALL OUR LIVES? WHO SHOWS US THE ROPES, WHO’S JUST LIKE DAD BUT MORE RELATABLE?
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“Hallowed be thy name”
My first year of college was exciting. Because: New York City, you know? But also because there were people in my dorm that year from all over the world. Most of us didn’t have a lot of money, so we would get together and watch The Simpsons every night as a homework break.
Down the hall was Cathleen. She went by Cat. She was from out West – I think Idaho – but that was all I knew about her. She was pretty, and very friendly, but we could never get her to come over and watch The Simpsons with us. She wasn’t unfriendly about it, she just declined.
Then one night, I was up very late drinking coffee and working on an assignment after everyone else was in bed. I was pacing the hallway and stretching, and Cat came out of her room to do the same. “I’m working on a paper, and I need a break,” she said. “Want to take a walk?”
So Cat and I walked from where we lived on 10th Street and 5th Avenue up to the New York Public Library and back – about 65 blocks in total. Plenty of time to get to know each other a bit. I asked Cat “how come you never come and hang out when we invite you to?”
Cat smiled and assured me it wasn’t because she was being stand-offish. Then she got serious. “No one in my family has ever gone to college before. My Dad worked as a ranch hand growing up, and we didn’t have a lot of money.
When I started thinking I might go to college, my mother took extra jobs nights and weekends cooking and cleaning for the family who owned the ranch. All through High School she was exhausted all the time. While I want to have fun, I’m here because what she gave up for me.”
I AM HERE BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS SACRIFICED FOR ME. LET WHAT CAT SAID SINK IN A BIT. CAT WANTED TO ENJOY THE LOVE HER MOTHER HAD GIVEN FOR HER, BUT CAT KNEW THAT THE BEST WAY TO DO THAT WAS TO HONOR HER MOTHER’S SACRIFICE.
“Hallowed be thy name.” Let your name be holy, God. Let us recognize what you have done for us, your children. Let us honor your love for us. Let us praise your holy name, let us give YOU credit for the blessings in our life, rather than ourselves.
Praise, reverence, awe. The name of God is the holiest of holies, the central truth from which all other truths exist – and from which EVEN OUR VERY ABILITY TO PERCEIVE TRUTH AND GOODNESS DERIVES.
Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Do you sometimes feel like you don’t matter? Like you’re just another vote to count, just another worker on a spreadsheet?
Alfred Delp once wrote, “I have been a mere number long enough to know what it means to be nameless, and what effect it has on life. As long as life itself has no name, or at least none that it honors, people and things will continue to lose their identity – and with it, their value.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF LIFE FADES WHEN THINGS LOST THEIR NAMES. WHAT IF EVERY SORT OF BIRD WERE JUST “A BIRD” TO YOU? WHAT IF YOUR SPOUSE WERE JUST “A PERSON,” THE SAME AS ANY OTHER? CREATION WOULD LOSE SOME OF ITS WONDER.
Delp, you see, was a Nazi resister, and wrote what he said about becoming an anonymous number from a Nazi prison. Which brings me to my next point. Nazi soldiers often wrote “Gott mit uns” on their helmets: “God is with us.”
“Hallowed be thy name.” GOD IS NOT SOME PET ON A LEASH WHO WE DRAG INTO OUR WARS, OUR EARTHLY CONFLICTS, OUR POLITICS. LET’S KEEP THE NAME OF GOD HOLY, AND KEEP IT FROM OUR MOUTHS WHEN TEMPTED TO USE IT IN THIS CONTEXT.
WE DO NOT SANCTIFY THE NAME OF GOD WHEN WE USE HIM AS SOME SORT OF STOPGAP FOR HUMAN FAILURES. LET’S NOT USE THE NAME OF GOD TO SERVE OUR OWN INTERESTS. LET’S KEEP GOD ABOVE THE FRAY, WHERE GOD IS, AND BELONGS.
“GOD BLESS OUR POLITICAL PARTY.” AND WHAT, NOT THE OTHER HALF OF THE COUNTRY? HOW ABOUT “GOD, PLEASE HELP US RECONCILE OUR DIFFERENCES, SO WE CAN MAKE THIS WORLD MORE LIKE YOU CREATED IT.” JUST A THOUGHT.
“Hallowed be thy name.” God’s holy name is sanctified only to the extent that our thoughts, our behaviors – in fact our very lives – are related to a pure heart, a heart of kindness and service and justice and mercy and a thirst for holy perfection… In short, when we follow Jesus.
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“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven”
To me, this is the crux of the entire Lord’s Prayer. In case we somehow missed the point in the two previous lines – “God is the father, we are the children” and “let the name of God be holy, and let it be used as such” – here Jesus really brings it home.
What do we mean when we say “the kingdom of God,” or “the kingdom of Christ?” What sort of kingdom do you imagine when you imagine such a kingdom? Is it one of hatred? Division? Judgment? Suffering? Conflict? War? Scarcity? Fear? Is it a place where we long for things?
“Thy kingdom come.” What sort of kingdom do you imagine when you imagine such a kingdom? Do we imagine a kingdom of unity? Togetherness? Love? Forgiveness? Reconciliation? Sharing? Service? Peace? Abundance? Is it a place where we are nourished?
During Jesus’ lifetime, some of those people who followed Him thought as he was their “savior,” that meant he would be raising an army, or at the very least would be leading some sort of violent overthrow of the Romans who ruled over the Holy Land at the time.
Spoiler alert for those who haven’t read ahead: THAT IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT WHAT JESUS DID. Instead, he did something far more difficult, and far more meaningful in the power of its gesture. Jesus went non-violently into the very belly of the beast, and allowed it to murder him.
This is an act of subversion. “Subversion” is defined as “the undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution.” More specifically, “a systematic attempt to undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within.”
BY PERSONS SECRETLY WORKING FROM WITHIN. WANT TO HELP REMEDY THE EVIL THAT LIVES IN THIS WORLD? DO WHAT JESUS DID. INTERACT WITH THE WORLD, GO ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS, BUT FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE. BEHAVE LIKE HE DID.
DO YOU BELIEVE FOR ONE MOMENT THAT THE ROUTE TO TAKE TO ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS ONE OF VIOLENT CONFLICT? OF DIVISION? OF HATRED? OF EXCLUSION? OR INSTEAD MIGHT IT BE ONE OF COMING TOGETHER IN JESUS’ NAME?
Make no mistake: Jesus was a revolutionary. But not THAT kind of revolutionary. “But Pete,” you might say. “What about the Book of Revelation in the Bible? What about all that talk of the apocalypse?” You are correct that we’re taught that there will be violence in the end times.
But let me ask you something. WHO CAUSES THE END TIMES TO COME? HUMANS? OR IS IT GOD? IF WE ARE ACTIVELY ATTEMPTING TO SOMEHOW ESTABLISH GOD’S KINGDOM OF PEACE THROUGH ACTS OF VIOLENCE, WE ARE WORKING AGAINST GOD, NOT FOR.
How do I know this for certain? Because the next line in the Lord’s Prayer is “thy will be done.” THY WILL BE DONE. NOT “MY WILL.” “THY WILL.” “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” Did Jesus lead an army against the Romans? He did not.
Paraphrased, to me this reads “let YOUR plan for the world unfold, God, not my own. I am taught that YOUR kingdom is one of ultimate peace, and while there may be violence necessary to establish that kingdom, it is not for me to decide when and how it comes.”
One of my favorite theologians MacDonald says it most concisely like this: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”
THERE ARE THOSE TO WHOM, IN THE END, GOD ALLOWS TO HAVE IT THE WAY THEY WANT, INSTEAD OF THE WAY GOD WANTS IT. “HAVE IT YOUR WAY.” TO ME, HELL IS A PLACE WHERE I GET WHATEVER I WANT, INSTEAD OF WHAT GOD THINKS I NEED.
One final note on those who think God’s kingdom can be established through human will, instead of God’s will. Who else thought they could wipe out evil in this world? Who thought they could make the world perfect if they only identified, isolated, and exterminated evil?
Any ideas? We talked about them briefly earlier… THE NAZIS. THE NAZIS THOUGHT JEWISH PEOPLE WERE EVIL, AND IF THEY COULD ONLY POINT OUT THAT EVIL, KEEP IT APART FROM THEMSELVES IN CAMPS, AND EXTERMINATE IT, THE WORLD WOULD BE PERFECT.
Does that seem like an exaggeration to you? If it does, if it seems to you I’m going too far in pointing that out, I beg of you: please read back over my words carefully. The Nazis most certainly wanted to point out what they saw as evil, and keep it apart from themselves.
If this is something you participate in, please keep in mind that you’re one step away from being the same as the Nazis. You’ve done the first two things. All you have yet to do is pull the trigger, so to speak. That doesn’t sound like God’s kingdom to me.
“But Pete,” you might say. “I don’t think gay people are evil. I don’t think Black people are evil.” “But you don’t want them to live near you, right?” Do you know what the word “ghetto” actually means? I would encourage you to look it up if you don’t.
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus teaches us over and over again in the Gospels that His perfect kingdom will be heaven coming here on Earth. It will be a time when all of creation is set back to its initial state of perfection.
What can we do to hasten the coming of this kingdom? Follow the example of Jesus Christ. Shower those around you with kindness, love, charity, service, forgiveness. Treat your neighbor the way you would like to be treated. And do so out of an abundant love for God.
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“Give us this day our daily bread”
While the words “thy will be done” might be the most important line in the entire Bible in terms of what it teaches us about how to live our lives, the line “give us this day our daily bread” is to me at least the single most interesting.
“Give us this day our daily bread.” This line is so interesting because in two different parts of The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorts us not to worry about things such as what we will eat. Take this passage from just a few verses after Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer:
Matthew 6:31-34, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Huh. This is a lot like something we talked about before, where Jesus teaches us “your heavenly father knows what you need before you ask him” and then just afterwards teaches us to pray the Lord’s Prayer. So: God doesn’t NEED us to pray, but we should pray anyway?
Just as this seeming contradiction is resolved when we realize that WE PRAY NOT BECAUSE GOD WANTS US TO, BUT BECAUSE WE OURSELVES NEED TO, WE REALIZE THAT PRAYING FOR OUR DAILY BREAD IS A WAY TO RECOGNIZE IT IS A BLESSING.
WE PRAY FOR OUR DAILY NEEDS BECAUSE WE MUST RECOGNIZE THAT WHEN THOSE NEEDS ARE MET IT IS A BLESSING FROM GOD. NOT FROM OURSELVES. FROM THE ABUNDANCE OF GOD’S CREATION. FROM WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN US.
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“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”
One summer day when I was around 8 or 9 years old, my three best friends Shaun, Tommy, and Kyle came over to my house. They wanted to know if they could borrow my basketball, because Shaun’s had gone flat.
I was sore that they hadn’t asked me to play basketball with them in the first place, so I was being difficult about sharing my own ball with them. “You didn’t even ask me to play! Why should I let you use my ball?” “Come on, Peter: you’re not using it!”
The solution was simple, and it’s precisely how the situation was resolved: they invited me over to play 2-on-2 basketball, and I just brought my ball over with me. Problem solved. But why was I being so stingy with my basketball to start with?
I had a basketball, and my friends needed one. I wasn’t using it. Why didn’t I give it to them? Because I’m human, and I can be selfish: that’s the simple reason. HOW OFTEN ARE WE SIMILARLY STINGY ABOUT THE GRACE GOD HAS GIVEN US?
Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
That’s pretty straightforward, right? But of course it’s much more difficult when put into practice. WHY CAN IT BE SO DIFFICULT FOR US TO FORGIVE, WHEN GOD HAS FORGIVEN US? TO SHOW LOVE, WHEN GOD HAS ALREADY SHOWN LOVE TO US?
WHEN WE FAIL TO PASS ALONG THE GRACE THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US, WE ARE TAKING GOD FOR GRANTED. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO PUT IT. GOD HAS GIVEN US A GIFT AND, LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN, WE DON’T WANT TO SHARE.
HOW MUCH BETTER TO PASS THAT GIFT ALONG TO OTHERS? TO FORGIVE, AS WE ARE FORGIVEN? TO PUT THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST TO WORK IN OUR LIVES, TO SHOW HIM THAT WE DON’T TAKE WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US FOR GRANTED?
We’re taught in Matthew 25:40, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Serving others is a means of grace. To show grace to others, to pass along what we have been so freely given, is nothing short of worship.
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“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”
The greatest temptation God can help keep us from is the temptation to follow our own self-will. We live after the Tree of Knowledge. And the greatest effect we feel from this today is the temptation to confuse our knowledge and our will for what God knows, and God’s will.
“Pete, we absolutely must keep ourselves away from every sort of sin. Church is a place for the good people to come and be fed, not sinners.” I would be obligated to point you towards John 8:7, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
WE ARE ALL SINNERS. WE ARE ALL IN NEED OF THE FORGIVENESS OF GOD JUST AS MUCH AS THE NEXT PERSON. SO WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH SINNERS? CONSIDER THE STORY OF ZACCHAEUS, FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE.
Luke 19:5-7, “When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today…” All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.’”
JESUS WENT TO THE HOME OF ZACCHAEUS, AND THE “RIGHTEOUS” PEOPLE AROUND HIM MUTTERED “WHY DOES THIS JESUS FELLOW HANG OUT WITH SINNERS LIKE THIS TAX COLLECTOR HERE?”
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” When we think about pointing out the sins of others, and wanting to keep ourselves apart from that sin instead of bearing witness of Christ against it out of love, this is not what this line from the Lord’s Prayer means.
We are not to hate the sinner, but hate the sin – and to LOVE the sinner back to God through the grace of Jesus Christ. We are to be like Jesus was with Zaccchaeus, bringing salvation to those who need it through the act of witnessing with our lives to the glory and grace of God.
THINK SOMETIMES THAT YOU JUST DON’T HAVE THE TIME TO HELP SOMEONE IN NEED? THAT YOU’RE JUST TOO BUSY TO REACH OUT WITH THE GRACE OF GOD THAT WAS GIVEN TO YOU?
KEEP IN MIND THAT JESUS ENCOUNTERS ZACCHEUS IN JERICHO, ON HIS WAY TO JERUSALEM. IT’S AROUND TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE CRUCIFIXION. JESUS IS ON HIS WAY TO SAVE THE WORLD IN TWO WEEKS. WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT’S SO IMPORTANT?
