How many of you know
the Lord’s Prayer?
By heart?
There is the
traditional language and cadence that we use in the atholic Church, which is so
very familiar: “Our Father, who art in heaven.”
And there is the
contemporary language: “Our Father in heaven, holy be your name.”
There is controversy
over some fine points:
Are we forgiven “sins”
or “debts”?
And how does the
prayer end? “Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil”?
Or “The kingdom, the
power and the glory are yours, now and forever”?
There are a number of
versions of this prayer used by Protestants and Catholics in contemporary
services and in more traditional worship.
The important thing is
that we pray.
But what are we praying?
What are we praying
for?
And where did this
prayer come from, what does it mean, how are we to use it?
It is clear that
prayer is important to Jesus.
We hear of him
praying, we hear of him calling his followers to prayer, and we hear the lessons
he offers about prayer.
In Luke’s gospel
alone, Jesus is at prayer at his baptism; before choosing his 12 disciples;
before the first prediction of his passion, at the Transfiguration.
Prayer seems to be
important to Jesus.
And prayer was clearly
important to Luke – after all, he collected and presented several stories
attributed to Jesus right here in a rather small section of his gospel.
Presumably, then,
prayer will also be important to us.
Let’s take a closer
look.
What we read today
begins with “Jesus was praying.”
And when he was
finished, one of the disciples asked him to teach them to pray “as John had
taught his disciples.”
We learn a couple of
things in this.
One, that prayer is
something one learns, something that can be taught.
There goes the excuse
of “But I don’t know how to pray!”
And we also learn that
there are forms of prayer that teachers pass on.
It was usual in Jesus’
time, and still is today, for teachers to instruct their disciples in how to
pray and give them a formula.
This is essentially
what the disciples were asking for.
Rabbis, teachers,
taught their students, their followers, their disciples, how to do things.
In this case, it was
John who had taught his disciples how to pray, and the disciples of Jesus asked
for the same thing.
They asked to be
taught. So Jesus told them, “When you pray, say this.”
Here we get to a
potential stumbling block in understanding what we traditionally call “The
Lord’s Prayer.”
It wasn’t his prayer,
was it?
It isn’t what he
prayed.
It was his response to
a disciple’s request to be given a formula for praying, to be given some
instruction, a method.
How often have we
introduced this prayer in worship, saying, “And now, as our savior taught us,
we are bold to say”?
So, is it the Lord’s
Prayer?
Well, yes. And no.
He didn’t teach us his
prayer, but a way to pray, and what to pray for.
He gave it to his
disciples as a way to formulate prayer.
There is another point
about this prayer that is sometimes missed:
This is a community
prayer, not a private prayer.
It is a prayer that
first praises God, and then makes three petitions for the ones praying.
The language of “us,”
“we,” assumes that the community shares the longing for final coming of the
kingdom.
This puts a bit of an
eschatological thrust on the prayer.
The people who formed
the early church believed with all their hearts and hoped that Jesus was coming
back to lift them out of oppression, any day.
They expected that the
kingdom would be established in their lifetime, and that they would live with
God.
Hence, the community
prayed in the way that Jesus instructed them.
Another point: The
“daily bread” piece in Luke more accurately reads “day by day give us,” or
“continue giving us,” or “each day give us.”
It seems that Luke wasn’t
looking to a glorified bread in an eventual kingdom, but sustenance for the
day, food for those who were encouraged to take up the cross daily, and who
were expected to travel on missionary journeys with only what is needed for the
day.
It is as much a
request as it is a demand.
In Luke, the one
praying asks for God’s forgiveness of sins – not debts – while promising to
forgive others their debts.
This may be a
reflection of Luke’s concern that possessions not get in the way of community
relationships.
It may also be a
reminder that God is the only one able to forgive sins, and that we are always
in debt one to another.
Ultimately, the
importance of the Lord’s Prayer is not only that Jesus gave it to his
disciples, but that it was picked up by early Christian worshipers and
incorporated into their understanding of how God shall be praised and what is
right to ask for. And it is especially important that it has been handed down
through generations to bind our community together.
How does Jesus teach
his disciples to pray?
Boldly. Courageously.
Expectantly.
Praise God. Place your
needs before God.
This prayer begins in
boldness.
It is a prayer of
great courage, both praising God and placing demands upon God’s goodness, God’s
justice.
It is the prayer of
community.
We hear a lot these
days about Jesus as “personal savior,” and it is common to hear the question
“Have you been saved?”
But that would have
been a foreign notion to the Jewish community, and out of character with Jesus’
teachings.
It is all about
community, not you and me individually.
Pray in boldness, my
friends.
Stand strong. Lift
your head. Raise your voice.
Never mistake that our
God is a strong God, ready to hear us.
And pray together, for
the community.
That is what Jesus taught.
