Jesus' Lesson On Prayer
Sermon
Sermons On The Gospel Readings
Series I, Cycle C
Jesus was praying. His followers sat near and watched. Perhaps they were envious that their leader seemed so comfortable in approaching God. It may have been a simple request for a lesson.
Inherent in the disciple's request, "Lord, teach us to pray" is this notion: "Help us to know the proper way to come to God in prayer. Jesus, we are frail human beings. What do we know about the etiquette of prayer? Teach us to pray so that we neither offend God nor embarrass ourselves." Several years ago, the President of the United States appeared on MTV, the television cable channel directed toward adolescents and young adults. Apparently, no one instructed the audience on manners. One of the young people asked the President, the most powerful human being on the face of the earth, about which style underwear he wore. "Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us the proper etiquette in coming to God."
Jesus responded by offering what we know as the "Lord's Prayer." Both Luke and Matthew remember this incident. Matthew records the most familiar version. This one in Luke is the shorter. In fact, it can be recited in twenty seconds. That the apostles mention John the Baptist may mean that John taught his followers a short, specific prayer they said with such frequency that it identified them as a group.1 Hence the disciples of Jesus request a similar prayer they might consider the "Signature Prayer of the Followers of Jesus Christ." To this day it serves that purpose. This is the universal prayer for Christian worship and personal devotion.
Jesus starts this model prayer with a surprising address to God. He says, Abba. The word typically is translated as "Father" and that bothers some. Certainly the nature of God cannot be summarized in a purely male image. Let me suggest that Jesus does not use the word Abba to describe the nature of God so much as to describe our human relationship to God. Rather than as Father, Abba is better translated Papa or Daddy. It is an intimate, family form of address. When Jesus starts the Lord's Prayer with "Abba," he means we are to come to God in prayer as though we have an intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.
"Hallowed be your name." In Hebrew a person's name was more than the appellation by which a person is identified. One's name referred to the whole character of a person. The Psalmist writes, "And those who know your name put their trust in you." That means more than knowing God's name is Yahweh. As William Barclay observes: "It means that those who know the whole character and mind and heart of God will gladly put their trust in him."2
To ask that God's character be hallowed or revered is to ask that everything we come to know about God be good. May only good be done in the name of God. May God be given that unique reverence which God's character and nature and personality demand.
When we push this expression a little, we come to realize it speaks not so much about what God is supposed to do as it is a prayer about how those who believe in God are supposed to be.
We who pray for God's name to be held in reverence are asking that our beliefs about God and our behavior in the name of God are worthy of God. To clarify: Praying "hallowed be your name" is not to ask God to behave in ways that people say nice things about God. "Hallowed be your name" is a prayer that we who claim to believe in God behave in ways that bring honor and not shame to God's name.
In Topeka, Kansas, there is a little church that has received national attention for their ministry of picketing the funerals of people who die of AIDS. The members of that church travel all over this nation in order to walk up and down in front of churches and funeral homes holding signs saying, "God hates fags." The pastor of the church makes no secret of his belief that God has called him to do this. In the name of the One True God, terrorists plant a bomb in a city market and a dozen people who happen to be buying vegetables that morning are killed. In the name of the Prince of Peace, wars have been declared and millions have died. To paraphrase a comment once made by the Methodist reformer, John Wesley: "Some people's ideas of God fit with my ideas of the Devil."
To say "Hallowed be your name," is to pray: "May my life bring honor to God. Because of what I believe about God, may my life be a role model that attracts others to God." That is how we reverence the name of God.
Then Jesus says, "Your kingdom come." Jesus has extensive teachings on the kingdom of God. In just the Gospel of Luke the expression is used 38 times. These references are usually parables, metaphors, and analogies, not descriptive prose. Although the Master refers to the "kingdom of God," one never gets the sense it is a place. More accurately, it is an experience or a condition. Consequently, it is more accurate to talk about the "reign of God" rather than the "kingdom."
It is Paul in Romans 14:17 who offers a definition when he writes, "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit." God reigns in this world where peace, joy, and righteousness prevail. As individuals, we experience the reign of God when we do what is right and when we experience the resulting inner peace and joy.
It should be noted that Jesus describes the reign of God as both present possibility and future reality. By faith, this can happen in your life. And it certainly will happen in this world. The kingdom of God will come. God will reign on earth as God reigns in heaven.
Jesus continues, "Give us each day our daily bread." This expression gives Bible commentators the most trouble. It demands a complex and nuanced interpretation. At a surface level, it means exactly what it says. "God, please see to it that our material needs are met. Lord, each day we need bread. We need the kind of bread made from wheat flour and baked in an oven. We also need the 'bread' otherwise known as carrying-around money." This is a material request for daily needs.
Scholars believe, however, that Jesus may mean much more than that. The difficulty comes with the word that gets translated as "daily." Luke uses a term here that is not found anywhere else in Greek literature.3 Depending on the interpretation, it could mean either "bread sufficient for the day" or "the kind of bread one will receive in the kingdom."4
Perchance Jesus meant both of these. Precedent exists for each in the Bible. When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness of the Sinai, God provided for them on a day-to-day basis. Each morning, they found sufficient food for the day. By that night, the food supply was exhausted. They had to learn to trust God that the next day the manna would again be available on the floor of the desert.
Saints Origen and Jerome, early leaders of the church, translated this phrase, "Give us what is necessary for daily existence." We might add, "And, Lord, help us understand the difference between what we really need and what we just want."
"Give us each day our daily bread." That might also refer to the "spiritual" food we need daily. Jesus did, you will remember, tell us that we do not live by (physical) bread alone. An eleventh-century Irish monk translates the Greek to Latin, Panem verbum Dei celestem da nobis hodie. "Give us today for bread the word of God from heaven."
"And forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us." Whereas to pray, "Give us each day our daily bread," asks God to supply the spiritual and physical nourishment we need for the present, this phrase speaks to the healing of our past. As human beings we are less than perfect. We do things to disappoint others. Others do things to disappoint us. For that matter, we are frequently a disappointment to ourselves. This disappointment accumulates as the trash of human interactions we know as ill will and guilt. If we do nothing to correct the problem, this trash accumulates until the burden overwhelms us.
For that reason, we give thanks that we have a Heavenly Trash Collector. God takes away not only the burden of our shortcomings, but the hurt that others have unloaded on us. We can be forgiven. We can forgive others.
I understand that diamond cutting is a nerve-wracking occupation. The crystal structure of an uncut diamond has to be studied carefully. Then the stone has to be hit at just the right angle. The cutter's job is stressful because there is only one chance. Strike a large, expensive diamond at the wrong angle and it shatters into tiny, near-worthless fragments.
Thankfully, God did not create us to be like diamonds. It is not "one strike and you're out." Rather than like a diamond, God has given us a life more akin to Silly Putty. Like that children's toy, we can be pulled apart, rolled into tiny pieces, stepped on and flattened, over and over again. By God's grace we can always be pulled back together, reshaped, and made into something more beautiful than ever. We can be forgiven. We can forgive others.
"And do not bring us to a time of trial." In the more familiar Matthew version, it says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Obviously, this can be misunderstood. We should not think that God puts temptation in our path just to test us. As James 1:13 says, "No one, when tempted, should say, 'I am tempted by God.' " Temptation and trials come with being a human being living in the world. Instead we should think of this part of the prayer as addressing our needs into the future. "God, sustain us through our times of temptation. When the tests come, Lord, may we be made stronger by them, rather than destroyed."
When the Master finished praying, his disciples said, "Jesus, we understand that John the Baptist has a special prayer for his followers. Would you teach us to pray? Would you give us a signature prayer?" Jesus responded, "When you pray, say this É"
Father. O God, you are not distant and uninterested. In fact, you know us so well we can spiritually crawl into your lap and call you Daddy.
Hallowed be your name. Grant us the grace, Lord, to behave in such a way that we never bring shame to you. May we who pray in your name live holy lives.
Your kingdom come. May we experience righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. As individuals, may we know this reign of God in our lives right now. As human community, may the day come soon when your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us each day our daily bread. Care for us in the present, Lord, by providing for our spiritual and physical needs each day.
And forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. As you care for our present, so we ask that you take care of our past. Set us free from the guilt of yesterday. Heal our broken relationships. Forgive us, Lord, and make us better forgivers of one another.
And do not bring us to the time of trial. God, you forgive our past. You sustain us in the present. Now we ask you to be with us in the future. Keep us from harm's way. Give us grace to resist temptation.
Amen and Amen.
____________
1. Fred Craddock, Interpretation: Luke (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 153.
2. William Barclay, The Daily Bible Study Series: The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), p. 143.
3. William Barclay, The Beatitudes and Lord's Prayer for Everyman (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), p. 217.
4. Dean Chapman, Lectionary Homiletics, Volume VI, Number 8, July 1995, p. 41.
Inherent in the disciple's request, "Lord, teach us to pray" is this notion: "Help us to know the proper way to come to God in prayer. Jesus, we are frail human beings. What do we know about the etiquette of prayer? Teach us to pray so that we neither offend God nor embarrass ourselves." Several years ago, the President of the United States appeared on MTV, the television cable channel directed toward adolescents and young adults. Apparently, no one instructed the audience on manners. One of the young people asked the President, the most powerful human being on the face of the earth, about which style underwear he wore. "Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us the proper etiquette in coming to God."
Jesus responded by offering what we know as the "Lord's Prayer." Both Luke and Matthew remember this incident. Matthew records the most familiar version. This one in Luke is the shorter. In fact, it can be recited in twenty seconds. That the apostles mention John the Baptist may mean that John taught his followers a short, specific prayer they said with such frequency that it identified them as a group.1 Hence the disciples of Jesus request a similar prayer they might consider the "Signature Prayer of the Followers of Jesus Christ." To this day it serves that purpose. This is the universal prayer for Christian worship and personal devotion.
Jesus starts this model prayer with a surprising address to God. He says, Abba. The word typically is translated as "Father" and that bothers some. Certainly the nature of God cannot be summarized in a purely male image. Let me suggest that Jesus does not use the word Abba to describe the nature of God so much as to describe our human relationship to God. Rather than as Father, Abba is better translated Papa or Daddy. It is an intimate, family form of address. When Jesus starts the Lord's Prayer with "Abba," he means we are to come to God in prayer as though we have an intimate, personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe.
"Hallowed be your name." In Hebrew a person's name was more than the appellation by which a person is identified. One's name referred to the whole character of a person. The Psalmist writes, "And those who know your name put their trust in you." That means more than knowing God's name is Yahweh. As William Barclay observes: "It means that those who know the whole character and mind and heart of God will gladly put their trust in him."2
To ask that God's character be hallowed or revered is to ask that everything we come to know about God be good. May only good be done in the name of God. May God be given that unique reverence which God's character and nature and personality demand.
When we push this expression a little, we come to realize it speaks not so much about what God is supposed to do as it is a prayer about how those who believe in God are supposed to be.
We who pray for God's name to be held in reverence are asking that our beliefs about God and our behavior in the name of God are worthy of God. To clarify: Praying "hallowed be your name" is not to ask God to behave in ways that people say nice things about God. "Hallowed be your name" is a prayer that we who claim to believe in God behave in ways that bring honor and not shame to God's name.
In Topeka, Kansas, there is a little church that has received national attention for their ministry of picketing the funerals of people who die of AIDS. The members of that church travel all over this nation in order to walk up and down in front of churches and funeral homes holding signs saying, "God hates fags." The pastor of the church makes no secret of his belief that God has called him to do this. In the name of the One True God, terrorists plant a bomb in a city market and a dozen people who happen to be buying vegetables that morning are killed. In the name of the Prince of Peace, wars have been declared and millions have died. To paraphrase a comment once made by the Methodist reformer, John Wesley: "Some people's ideas of God fit with my ideas of the Devil."
To say "Hallowed be your name," is to pray: "May my life bring honor to God. Because of what I believe about God, may my life be a role model that attracts others to God." That is how we reverence the name of God.
Then Jesus says, "Your kingdom come." Jesus has extensive teachings on the kingdom of God. In just the Gospel of Luke the expression is used 38 times. These references are usually parables, metaphors, and analogies, not descriptive prose. Although the Master refers to the "kingdom of God," one never gets the sense it is a place. More accurately, it is an experience or a condition. Consequently, it is more accurate to talk about the "reign of God" rather than the "kingdom."
It is Paul in Romans 14:17 who offers a definition when he writes, "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy, in the Holy Spirit." God reigns in this world where peace, joy, and righteousness prevail. As individuals, we experience the reign of God when we do what is right and when we experience the resulting inner peace and joy.
It should be noted that Jesus describes the reign of God as both present possibility and future reality. By faith, this can happen in your life. And it certainly will happen in this world. The kingdom of God will come. God will reign on earth as God reigns in heaven.
Jesus continues, "Give us each day our daily bread." This expression gives Bible commentators the most trouble. It demands a complex and nuanced interpretation. At a surface level, it means exactly what it says. "God, please see to it that our material needs are met. Lord, each day we need bread. We need the kind of bread made from wheat flour and baked in an oven. We also need the 'bread' otherwise known as carrying-around money." This is a material request for daily needs.
Scholars believe, however, that Jesus may mean much more than that. The difficulty comes with the word that gets translated as "daily." Luke uses a term here that is not found anywhere else in Greek literature.3 Depending on the interpretation, it could mean either "bread sufficient for the day" or "the kind of bread one will receive in the kingdom."4
Perchance Jesus meant both of these. Precedent exists for each in the Bible. When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness of the Sinai, God provided for them on a day-to-day basis. Each morning, they found sufficient food for the day. By that night, the food supply was exhausted. They had to learn to trust God that the next day the manna would again be available on the floor of the desert.
Saints Origen and Jerome, early leaders of the church, translated this phrase, "Give us what is necessary for daily existence." We might add, "And, Lord, help us understand the difference between what we really need and what we just want."
"Give us each day our daily bread." That might also refer to the "spiritual" food we need daily. Jesus did, you will remember, tell us that we do not live by (physical) bread alone. An eleventh-century Irish monk translates the Greek to Latin, Panem verbum Dei celestem da nobis hodie. "Give us today for bread the word of God from heaven."
"And forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us." Whereas to pray, "Give us each day our daily bread," asks God to supply the spiritual and physical nourishment we need for the present, this phrase speaks to the healing of our past. As human beings we are less than perfect. We do things to disappoint others. Others do things to disappoint us. For that matter, we are frequently a disappointment to ourselves. This disappointment accumulates as the trash of human interactions we know as ill will and guilt. If we do nothing to correct the problem, this trash accumulates until the burden overwhelms us.
For that reason, we give thanks that we have a Heavenly Trash Collector. God takes away not only the burden of our shortcomings, but the hurt that others have unloaded on us. We can be forgiven. We can forgive others.
I understand that diamond cutting is a nerve-wracking occupation. The crystal structure of an uncut diamond has to be studied carefully. Then the stone has to be hit at just the right angle. The cutter's job is stressful because there is only one chance. Strike a large, expensive diamond at the wrong angle and it shatters into tiny, near-worthless fragments.
Thankfully, God did not create us to be like diamonds. It is not "one strike and you're out." Rather than like a diamond, God has given us a life more akin to Silly Putty. Like that children's toy, we can be pulled apart, rolled into tiny pieces, stepped on and flattened, over and over again. By God's grace we can always be pulled back together, reshaped, and made into something more beautiful than ever. We can be forgiven. We can forgive others.
"And do not bring us to a time of trial." In the more familiar Matthew version, it says, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Obviously, this can be misunderstood. We should not think that God puts temptation in our path just to test us. As James 1:13 says, "No one, when tempted, should say, 'I am tempted by God.' " Temptation and trials come with being a human being living in the world. Instead we should think of this part of the prayer as addressing our needs into the future. "God, sustain us through our times of temptation. When the tests come, Lord, may we be made stronger by them, rather than destroyed."
When the Master finished praying, his disciples said, "Jesus, we understand that John the Baptist has a special prayer for his followers. Would you teach us to pray? Would you give us a signature prayer?" Jesus responded, "When you pray, say this É"
Father. O God, you are not distant and uninterested. In fact, you know us so well we can spiritually crawl into your lap and call you Daddy.
Hallowed be your name. Grant us the grace, Lord, to behave in such a way that we never bring shame to you. May we who pray in your name live holy lives.
Your kingdom come. May we experience righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. As individuals, may we know this reign of God in our lives right now. As human community, may the day come soon when your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us each day our daily bread. Care for us in the present, Lord, by providing for our spiritual and physical needs each day.
And forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. As you care for our present, so we ask that you take care of our past. Set us free from the guilt of yesterday. Heal our broken relationships. Forgive us, Lord, and make us better forgivers of one another.
And do not bring us to the time of trial. God, you forgive our past. You sustain us in the present. Now we ask you to be with us in the future. Keep us from harm's way. Give us grace to resist temptation.
Amen and Amen.
____________
1. Fred Craddock, Interpretation: Luke (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 153.
2. William Barclay, The Daily Bible Study Series: The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), p. 143.
3. William Barclay, The Beatitudes and Lord's Prayer for Everyman (New York: Harper and Row, 1963), p. 217.
4. Dean Chapman, Lectionary Homiletics, Volume VI, Number 8, July 1995, p. 41.
